M&M evaluates giga factory in India, signs supply agreement for Volkswagen EV platform

Indian auto maker Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is considering whether to open a battery plant in India, group CEO and MD Anish Shah told reporters.

"We are going to look at… on whether we should have a battery plant or not," Shah said, adding: "The inclination is that we should have [one]."

The company was currently crunching its numbers to decide whether to go ahead with such a project, Shah said: "We need to verify the inclination through a lot of data and analysis on the benefits of doing so, and make the final call." Only if it decides to go ahead with the business will M&M settle the question of "with whom and what technology we should use," he said.

M&M's giga factory aspirations emerged even as the company announced it had tied up with German automaker Volkswagen Group for access to the latter's open platform for electric vehicles.

In a notice to stock exchanges on Friday, the company said it had signed a supply agreement for electric components and unified cells components from MEB, Volkswagen's open platform for EVs, for use in M&M's purpose-built electric platform INGLO.

M&M it would be the first external partner to use the unified cell concept, and that the supply agreement covered 50 GWh over several years.

In its notice, the company said: "Mahindra plans to launch five all-electric SUVs in India based on its new, purpose-built electric platform INGLO, starting December 2024. With more than five million new vehicles per year in 2023, India is one of the largest automotive markets in the world. The electrification of the passenger car segment is expected to gain momentum in the coming years." 

Volkswagen's MEB platform is currently used by group marquees such as Skoda, Audi and Volkswagen, as well as third-party automakers such as Ford.