Commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland Ltd. (ALL) is committed to making its electric vehicle arm Switch Mobility a global EV company, said executive chairman Dheeraj Hinduja.
“Switch Mobility is an important initiative and we reiterate our commitment to develop it as a global electric vehicle company,” Mr. Hinduja said.
“So far, we have been successful in establishing the name and platform as a credible EV manufacturer in the industry. In India, we are growing our sales pipeline quickly and delivering competitive products,” he said.
The firm was focusing on India and the U.K. markets, he said and added that Switch had displayed its new electric European bus named E1.
“So, Europe becomes a big market for us. But we are seeing interests from certain Middle Eastern markets as well. So, in due course, after Europe, we will be focusing on the Middle East markets,” he said.
Mr. Hinduja said that the firm was in talks with several investors to raise $200-250 million for developing new products and the deal was likely to be announced soon. The dilution due to fresh infusion of capital from this round would not be more than 15%, he added.
He also said that Switch had plans to unveil the much-awaited products in the LCV segment by middle of next year and hinted that Switch might go in for collaboration on the battery side and for charging infrastructure.
Director and CFO Gopal Mahadevan said that ALL was the only firm to have gained market share in Q2.
“There are lot of opportunities in the bus segment. Light commercial vehicles is expected to do much better in second half. We will deliver CNG buses when the market is ready,” he said.
