Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicle – a part of Mahindra group -- has put its plan to set up an assembly plant in Australia on hold as it looks to increase its focus on the domestic as well as export markets.
The manufacturer of e2o electric vehicle was in 2012 exploring the possibilities of setting up its first overseas assembly facility in Australia. The company had also tied up with the government of Victoria, Australia, to support a feasibility study to explore potential for research, supply chain development and manufacturing of clean technology vehicles there.
On the change in plans, Chetan Maini, CEO, Mahindra Reva, said, "Our discussion is still on in many areas, but I think what we would like to do in short term is make India a larger success, establish higher volume platform and then potentially look at such opportunity."
"So it's not that we have discounted the idea, but its something we are deferring probably little bit," he said.
The company has been working on many areas, including work on electrification of Mahindra's existing and new vehicle platforms and looking at potential international markets.
"As a business, besides making our current cars, the second part is about licensing the technology to Mahindra and other platforms. While the third area was about the manufactured franchise. What we created was a plant in Bangalore which could be transplanted anywhere in the world at probably one-tenth of the investment. The idea was to create new green plants, which are run by solar energy and are very cost-effective," said Maini.
When asked if Mahindra Reva is looking at setting up an assembly plant elsewhere, Maini said, "We have received communications from other countries but we are internally focusing on Indian perspective. So we are looking at options and if they are attractive enough we would probably consider."
The company, which has a facility in Bangalore with a capacity of producing 30,000 units annually, is still far behind reaching that number. The company has so far sold nearly 500 units since the launch in March last year, owing to an absence of any government subsidy. As sales failed to pick up domestically, the company will go aggressive on the exports side, starting with neighbouring countries, and eventually to European markets.
To boost sales in India, the company recently rolled out 'goodbye fuel hello electric' scheme, which separates the acquisition cost of the car and the cost of the battery and its maintenance.
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