Not scared of competition from Tesla & BYD, says M&M

As a resurgent Mahindra & Mahindra pumps in Rs 12,000 crore into electric mobility to launch new ‘lifestyle’ cars, CEO Rajesh Jejurikar says that Indian companies are today confident to take on competition from any global green carmaker, and “welcome” players like Tesla and BYD in the market. “It’s not a question of being scared. Let them come and launch something like this in India, but at these prices,” Jejurikar tells TOI as the company launched two electric cars, BE 6e and XUV 9e, with starting price of around Rs 20 lakh. Excerpts:
How much time did you take to bring these two cars to life?
From sketch to concepts, which we had showcased at Banbury in the UK, to now, we’ve done all this in flat three years. We are now ready to start the production of the cars soon. So, it’s the fastest development and scale up for us, packed with really high technologies, which makes our cars comparable to any global luxury brand. It’s comparable on every possible parameter, except the pricing where we are really aggressive .

Aren’t your cars getting too fancy in styling and tech for a market like India where consumers are generally conventional?
What we’ve experienced is that if you bring in right technologies and styling, people want them. We were surprised by popularity of ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) when it was launched in XUV7OO. Knowledge and interest in autos are increasing and there is a huge awareness about what is coming in. People are today waiting to watch what is new and then aspiring to own them. I don’t think our cars are ahead of time. They become ahead of time only if they are priced too high, which our cars are not.
Global electric giants like China’s BYD is already having a limited presence in India (through imports), while govt is trying hard to get Elon Musk’s Tesla here. Does that worry you as they are strong and experienced?
We are capable of doing anything, which is world beating. Today it gives us a lot of pride to see that primarily Indian engineers have created these two global cars in just three years. So, when it comes to global brands, it is not at all a question of being scared. We actually welcome them here. Let them come and launch something like this in India, but at these prices… Even after they localise, let’s see if any of these players can do what we are doing.
Do you think that Indian companies today are good enough to match any global competition?
Yes. Because I think what we are creating today is led by the local talent that we have here. More than talent, it’s the passion and the ability to work hard. I don’t think this can be matched by anyone anywhere in the West. Our teams here are so passionate about what they do. Their energy and passion is the competitive edge for India.
Many people doubt success of electrics in India. What’s your forecast?
I think they should be about 30% of the market by 2030. As a country, once we start seeing success with good quality products, we will move at a very rapid rate in adoption of EVs. We haven’t seen those kind of products in India yet.