Exclusive: Mahindra design boss details brand's UK-led EV push

Yesterday, Indian automotive and industrial giant Mahindra & Mahindra revealed five dramatic new electric SUV concepts that will spearhead a full-bore electrification drive for the marque - while introducing a radical new sub-brand aimed at entirely new markets. Just as significantly, the most dramatically styled pair among the five – all of which use architecture derived from the Volkswagen Group's MEB platform – are the work of Mahindra's Advanced Design Europe (MADE) facility in Banbury, Oxfordshire, next to the headquarters of its successful Formula E racing team. At the event, Mahindra executive vice president and chief design officer Pratap Bose – previously a leading figure in the design team at Jaguar Land Rover owner Tata Motors – gave Autocar exclusive insight into the brand's plans to electrify India, before taking its bold new products to the global market for the first time. Why show five concepts simultaneously, and not just one? "That's our story. The story is bigger than one car: it's about the business; it's about the architecture; it's about the range of cars. If you want to show a vision that you're starting to realise, you need to show the whole thing, that you're serious about EVs." Why all SUVs and no smaller cars? "We will have SUVs in various sizes, of course. The first, for example, the BE.05, is a 4.2m car, and the BE.09 is 4.9, so it's already half a metre longer. That's the range. "We are an SUV company, and that's what we'll focus on. It's our core strength, and what a lot of people love us for. We are one of the few pure-SUV companies, and we're very proud of that heritage." These are technologically advanced and strikingly styled cars, but is affordability still Mahindra's mantra? "It will be, of course. We've spoken about the economy of scale, our volume ambitions and how VW's own volumes will be something we can leverage, and how they can leverage ours. The focus will always be on volume, and getting that right. And our current ICE portfolio shows that we can create incredible value and still deliver a great product. "I think that DNA, and the mind of our company, will come through in these cars as well." You've talked about a global push. Have you benchmarked these EVs against cars from established marques? "We benchmark against everyone, because some are on a performance scale – which is why we have the Pininfarina Battista in the group, for example [Mahindra acquired Pininfarina SpA in 2015 and launched Automobili Pininfarina in 2018], because of its hypercar positioning – but these have to be a lot more accessible to our poorer customers. "We've made a new brand, BE, because we want to bring in new customers to the overall company. Some people may or may not choose to buy some of the other products." How will you differentiate between XUV and BE-badged EVs? "An XUV car has, in most cases, an ICE counterpart, and the BE cars will be pure electric, with no ICE option. It's a bit like looking at Volvo and Polestar: that would be one parallel. But we will leverage the scale it gives us." Is India's EV infrastructure a lot less developed than in the UK? "Yes, but it's coming. It's like mobile phones: you had people with no landlines and now India has the most mobile phones in the world and is adding more every year. "There will be that effect: once it reaches a tipping point, it will be unstoppable. And the government is very committed, as well as businesses, to making EVs happen – to taking them to 30% by 2027." Tell us more about the UK facility's role in Mahindra's EV roll-out? "This particular roll-out will see all the BE cars designed in the UK studio, and the 'twin-peak' [XUV] cars in India. The UK facility will continue expanding the BE range. We are showing just three today, but there are many more to come." The 35-strong MADE team work next door to the Mahindra Racing team. Can you collaborate? "We can, now that we're on the same campus. There are specific areas of aerodynamics, power management and regenerative braking, where we have so much experience over there. Why wouldn't we bring that here? Dilbagh Gill [CEO and team principal of Mahindra Racing] is so close that I can see his office from mine now." Which components come from VW? "At the moment, it's the battery. There could be other EV components, but principally it's the battery. Of course, we could look at charging infrastructure, platform sharing… We will explore that as we go along. The start was with batteries." When Mahindra was considering how to phase out combustion, were batteries always the solution or did you consider hydrogen and sustainable fuels? "Not at the moment. We feel our way of getting this to happen will be batteries. We have done a lot of work with three-wheelers, and we're number one in India, and now of course there are four-wheelers. Our bet is on with batteries." What have you learned from those three-wheelers? "There's a pattern of use, and an acceptance from the customers. We really like that they enjoy the silence, and that they are vibration-free. All that translates into four-wheelers as well, so while there's not a direct relationship in that sense, at the end of the day it is still batteries and their management structures." What needs to happen for these cars to come to Europe and the UK? "I don't think much, in terms of the legislative side of things. It's just about what we would want to do as a brand - where we would want to take these. But in terms of design, engineering, safety and performance, there shouldn't be any barriers there. "It's more where we want to go, rather than 'can we?'. It's a more if-or-when question, I suppose. The focus initially will be in India - that's where want to be a part of building this whole ecosystem – and we'll take it from there."