Mahindra CEO Rajesh Gupta confirms plans to bring electric vehicles to South Africa
Mahindra, one of India’s largest automotive manufacturers, confirmed that it plans to introduce two electric vehicle models to the South African market.
Image: Mahindra South Africa
Mahindra, one of India’s largest automotive manufacturers, confirmed that it plans to introduce two electric vehicle models to the South African market.
The news was announced by Mahindra South Africa CEO Rajesh Gupta during the inauguration of the company’s new state-of-the-art vehicle assembly plant in Durban’s Dube TradePort Special Economic Zone on Tuesday.
The 14,000m² facility replaces the company’s previous semi-knockdown (SKD) operation and allows for full nuts-and-bolts vehicle assembly, significantly increasing production capacity and supporting the company’s local growth plans.
Responding to questions from the media on whether the company was considering introducing electric vehicles into the South African market in the future, Gupta said the company plans to bring two fully electric models, already launched in India, to South Africa once the local infrastructure and business conditions are favourable.
“Though I don’t know whether I am supposed to reveal that good news today. The good news is that what Mahindra has done in India this year, which is about launching two very amazing pure electric vehicles, which we call 'spawn' electric vehicle.
"One of them was showcased here on 15th August 2023. They got launched. They got an amazing booking. I think the booking was around 35,000 cars or something like that, and they are doing almost 5,000 cars in India.”
However, Gupta was not able to provide a specific timeframe as to when the electric vehicles would arrive in the South African market.
“We are due to bring them here .The only matter is when, how, and what kind of approach we will take, as the country has a different perspective on electrification compared to others. So we will have to do some more tweaking on our business model, but we are extremely sure of bringing them sooner than later. That’s what I can say, but I can’t define any time.”
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