Volkswagen and the car manufacturer Mahindra want to work together on the electrification of the Indian automobile market. By the end of this year, a “binding contract” for the deliveries of the platforms with the car manufacturer Mahindra should be in place, as both partners announced on Thursday. A first cooperation agreement has already been concluded. It’s about assemblies such as electric drives, battery systems and soon possibly also its own battery cells, which Volkswagen produces in its internal component plants.
With Mahindra, the world’s second largest car company has gained another major customer for the self-developed modular electrical construction kit (MEB), on which vehicles from VW, Audi, Škoda and Seat are built with their subsidiary Cupra. The US company too ford want at least build two electric vehicles based on VW’s MEB. By selling licenses, the Wolfsburg-based company wants to recoup the high development costs for the MEB and in the business electric cars become more profitable.
India made a commitment at the 2021 World Climate Conference in Glasgow to only allow emission-free new vehicles from 2035. With around three million new registrations a year, the South Asian country is one of the five largest automobile markets in the world. According to forecasts, the market could grow to up to five million units by 2030.