India's REVA is developing a variety of battery-based vehicles.
Mahindra & Mahindra’s takeover of the REVA Electric Vehicle Company of Bangalore, India has prompted General Motors Corp. to withdraw from a GM India joint development project.
“GM India and Reva Electric Car Company have decided to discontinue the joint development of electric vehicle technologies for the India market. We expect to apply the learnings from this collaboration to future product development activities to meet the varied needs of customers around the world,” GM said in a statement.
The GM-REVA partnership was set up last year and aimed at developing a low-cost electric vehicle for the emerging Indian market. That plan was scuttled when Mahindra announced it would acquire the small battery car company, last week. (Click Here for more on the Mahindra-REVA deal.)
However, Mahindra’s acquisition of REVA and GM’s reaction underscore the importance carmakers around the world are putting on EV technology.
Mahindra REVA expects to use Mahindra’s vehicle development expertise, opening the door for REVA technology to be used in Mahnindra-designed vehicles, said the larger Indian maker, which has itsel delayed a long-anticipated entry into the U.S. market as it finalizes work on a pair of light truck offerings.
(Click Here for a preliminary review of Mahindra’s pickup and SUV offerings aimed at the U.S. market.)
Pawan Goenka, President, Automotive & Farm Equipment Sectors, Mahindra & Mahindra, who will serve as the chairman of the Mahindra REVA board, said the deal for REVA will give the Mahindra group a strong global player in the electric vehicle space.
“The EV market is poised to grow significantly and we concluded that in order to seize the opportunity we needed the resources and experience of a major automotive manufacturer,” said Chetan Maini, Chief of Technology & Strategy, of the newly-formed Mahindra REVA.
REVA – which premiered its next-generation electric car models, the NXR and NXG, at last year’s Frankfurt Auto Show — has sold 3,500 EVs in 24 countries, making it one of the largest makers of battery electric vehicles in the world – at least for now.
But who’ll lead this time next year and beyond is anything but certain. Nissan plans to launch production of its new Leaf battery-car late in 2010, and claims it already has received nearly 20,000 orders. (Click Here for more.) And General Motors plans to launch its Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle in November. Toyota will follow with a plug-in hybrid Prius and Ford will launch the Transit Connect Electric, the first of five battery vehicles.
Mercedes-Benz, meanwhile, is partnering with both BYD, of China — (Click Here for more on that deal – and America’s Tesla. Tesla is readying the midsize Model S, and Fisker Automotive last week received $189 million in funding for its own ventures, which include the Karma sports car and Project Nina.