No Immediate Rival Planned For Maruti Grand Vitara, Toyota Hyryder Strong Hybrid: Jejurikar, M&M

With no regulatory incentives and plenty of EVs in the pipeline, Mahindra sees no reason to follow the market leader down the self-charging hybrid path

The country’s most popular carmaker, Maruti, is taking a bold step of introducing strong hybrid technology to mass market SUVs with the new Grand Vitara in partnership with Toyota. The Grand Vitara’s Toyota counterpart is called the Hyryder. Meanwhile, the homegrown specialist of SUVs, Mahindra, has no plans to pursue self-charging hybrid avenues with its lineup, focussing on fully electric models instead.

Hybrids have no backing: Mahindra

The government has been trying different types of incentives for electric vehicles (EVs) such as tax discounts for buyers and financial aids for select manufacturers. However, the centre has not offered any incentives for strong hybrids, which are taxed the same as combustion engine models. Therefore, carmakers like Mahindra are not looking at the hybrid route and skipping straight to full electrification.

In regards to the strong demand in pre-bookings for the Grand Vitara strong hybrid, Rajesh Jejurikar, Mahindra Auto Executive Director, stated that they have “no immediate plans” on a direct rival with similar powertrain technology.

Challenges with EVs

Incentives aside, EVs are still an expensive affair as powertrain components like the battery and motors are usually imported. There is also the issue of infrastructural challenges such as a limited number of operational public chargers and even fewer offering DC fast charging. Thus, Maruti Suzuki and Toyota see hybrids as the middle step before mass adoption of EVs and have taken that route for the time being.

• Electric Charging Stations in India

Upcoming Mahindra EV

Mahindra has been part of the EV space for a long time since the e2o and the e-Verito offerings with a range of less than 150km. It has fallen behind rivals in the new age of relatively affordable EVs (under Rs 20 lakh) with over 300km of claimed range. The carmaker will be looking to catch up, with its first long-range EV due to be unveiled in September 2022 as the XUV400 compact electric SUV. 

We expect Mahindra to share its detailed plans for an electrified lineup following the unveiling of its EV concepts on August 15. Stay tuned to CarDekho for more updates on the same.