Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) announced the launch of 5 new Electric Sports Utility Vehicles (E-SUVs) on India's 76th Independence Day on August 15, 2022, and kicked off a happy momentum for the stock market on August 16. Along with categorizing these 5 SUVs under two brands, XUV and BE, M&M also launched its new platform Inglo, which will power all of its electric vehicles, using components from Volkswagen.
First, the five new SUVs: The 5 SUVs will fall under 2 brands - the iconic brand XUV (with the twin peak logo) and the all-new electric-only brand called BE which is the short form of born electric. This means that all 5 SUV names will either start with XUV or BE. The car is also expected to seat 4 passengers.
And the curtain rises… pic.twitter.com/wRFQrejABu
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) August 15, 2022
SUV 1: XUV.e8
… and the XUV.e8 … all with the path-breaking Inglo platform @MahindraRise pic.twitter.com/VN1tQkRSTV
— Anish Shah (@anishshah21) August 15, 2022
SUV 2: XUV.e9
SUV 3: BE.05
A peek inside the BE.05 @MahindraRise pic.twitter.com/1Tfsb7rPGW
— Anish Shah (@anishshah21) August 15, 2022
SUV 4: BE.07
SUV 5: BE.09
What is the INGLO platform?
Today is a landmark in automotive history. Thrilled to unveil our #BornElectricVision. Presenting #INGLO, a platform that marries future-ready tech, design & world-class manufacturing, backed by global partners, driven by the purpose of #Rise. The future is 'electrifying green'. pic.twitter.com/Uc7gB6SCyO
— Anish Shah (@anishshah21) August 15, 2022
Just like every building has a strong base, every electric car is built over a square or rectangular base which forms the base of the car and houses batteries that help run the car. Though the platform is consistent in design, it can be customized for every new vehicle depending on the space, design, and requirements that the vehicle needs to fulfill. To understand this here is a video below that shows a similar platform built by Volkswagen, called MEB.
Mahindra is building a similar platform to Volkswagen's MEB called Inglo that will help your electric car function like it should. Inglo uses a common battery pack design and the battery range is about 60-80kwh. The batteries are capable of 175kW fast-charge, meaning a car can be charged from 0% to 80% in less than 30 minutes. The electric SUVs come with both rear and all-wheel drive configurations and the speed of the cars can change from 0 to 100 in 5 to 6 seconds. Inglo will offer international safety standards, exhilarating performance, a multi-sensorial driving experience with an augmented reality-enabled display, and a 5G network capability.
The deal with Volkswagen:
⚡️ Next step in the electrification of 🇮🇳: We are strengthening our collaboration with @MahindraRise!
— Volkswagen Group (@VWGroup) August 15, 2022
🔋 We plan to provide Mahindra's electric SUVs with our #UnifiedCell and MEB components - including the electric drivetrain and the #battery system. pic.twitter.com/8KM9BVsG4W
M&M and Volkswagen have signed a term sheet ( a written deal with terms and conditions) whereby Volkswagen will provide unified cells and MEB electric components for M&M's Inglo platform. Both M&M and Volkswagen aim to create more than 1 million units over a lifetime and are expecting to continue this partnership since Volkswagen aims to sell over 20-30% of electric vehicles by 2027.
Share prices zoom: M&M shares rose 3% in the morning on August 16, 2022, and were thus included in the list of the top gainers stocks for the day. M&M's stock has given a return of nearly 55% to investors in 2022 (year-to-date) and ever since the news of the collaboration with Volkswagen has broken out in May 2022, the share prices have risen by about 40% from about Rs 895 to Rs 1,200.