Indian Domestic Auto Giants look to leverage the Electric Vehicle Growth Story

The Indian automobile industry is one of the largest industries accounting for a substantial part of the domestic industrial base (almost 50%) and one of the few industries where India has seen some success. The large domestic demand of four-wheelers, two-wheelers, buses, etc. are mostly met from domestic manufacturing plants and India also has a thriving automobile supply chain which also exports a sizeable chunk of its production to other countries.

However, the industry is dominated by the like of Suzuki, Hyundai, Toyota, and others in the cars category with domestic companies such as the Tatas and Mahindras only having a niche market share. Despite large acquisitions of marquee companies outside to acquire technology and brands, they have not been able to really increase their share. Now with the advent of new technologies and trends in the automobile industry, the domestic companies are investing heavily to disrupt the status quo which exists.

The Mahindra group had bought electric startup Reva around four years ago and put a lot of money to work in the EV ecosystem in terms of R&D, manufacturing, etc. The company not only plans to introduce a number of electric vehicles in different categories but also become a major supplier of components for this new industry. The company plans to sell electric powertrains to different manufacturers besides introducing new models. After four-wheelers (eVerito), the company also has plans to launch a new electric three-wheeler in the Indian market which is dominated by Bajaj.

Also, read India’s New EV Roadmap Scaring the Automobile Industry Away

The Tata Group which is India’s largest conglomerate with a presence across the industries and services supply chain has also put up a unique group of its companies to push forward its growth in the EV, battery and charging segments. Key Tata Group companies such as Tata Motors, Tata Chemicals, Tata Power and Tata Croma are collaborating to target different parts of the supply chain. Tata Motors will lead the charge with EVs and has already introduced a new Nexon EV which costs less than USD 20,000 and has a range in excess of 300 km. Its power company Tata Power will support developing an EV charging infrastructure while Tata Chemicals will lead the charge in developing lithium battery solutions. Its electronics retail chain Tata Chroma will target the upwardly mobile segment which visits its stores. The Tata Group with its extensive presence across the Indian economy is positioned well to take advantage of the paradigm shift to a shared. Clean transportation future. It remains to be seen how well it does in execution as there have been no big success stories of the group companies collaborating with each other in leveraging an opportunity.