With Ssangyong, M&M’s electric play gets a spark

Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) is taking its partnership with its South Korean unit Ssangyong to a new dimension. Looking to capitalise on synergies, the automaker has joined forces with its South Korean subsidiary to develop bigger electric power trains.

The Indian company has been at the forefront of bolstering its electric vehicle portfolio in the domestic market, which is looking at Diwali launch for Reva NXR, a four-seater electric vehicle. Even Ssangyong is going full throttle ahead, which is working on some electric models as part of its broader five-year business strategy fashioned for the global market.

The collaboration for electric power trains for bigger vehicles is only an extension of that arrangement to further strengthen the portfolio.

“We are now beginning to collaborate on electric vehicle power trains and have a power train that can be used for high-end electric vehicles. NXR is a smaller vehicle. Larger vehicles will require bigger power trains, which will be developed jointly by Mahindra and Ssangyong. That work is at a planning phase,” Pawan Goenka, head, automotive and farm equipment sectors for Mahindra and Mahindra, told DNA during the Auto Expo in January.

The two are also trying their hand in jointly developing SUVs in future. The work on their first premium SUV has already started and is at a conceptual stage.

Mahindra took over Ssangyong in 2011, and according to the scheme of things, M&M and Ssangyong will be using different platforms for their future product launches.

Ssangyong had come out with Korando E, an electric SUV concept, at the Auto expo in Delhi recently. The production details, however, are still to be decided.

Ssangyong sales are moving at a fast clip — its worldwide figure stood at 80,000 in 2010. As part of its long-term to mid-term business goals, Ssangyong aims to take the figure up to 160,000 by 2013 as against the target of 121,000 units for 2011.