FILE PHOTO: Electric car models of the Volkswagen Group Volkswagen ID.3, Seat Cupra Born, Volkswagen ID.4, Audi Q4 e-tron, Volkswagen ID.5 GTX and Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron are parked outside the production plant of Volkswagen, in Zwickau, Germany, April 26, 2022. REUTERS/Matthias Rietschel/File Photo
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG and Mahindra & Mahindra on Monday expanded their cooperation and signed a term sheet under which the German carmaker will supply electric components to its Indian peer.
The agreement covers components of Volkswagen's open platform for electric vehicles (EVs), called MEB, to be supplied to Mahindra's new electric platform INGLO, the companies said.
The INGLO platform, which will power all of Mahindra's EVs, offers options ranging from 60-80 kilowatt hour (kWh) battery capacity and fast-charging of up to 80% in less than 30 minutes, Mahindra said, without specifying the range of the EVs.
Tata Motors, which currently dominates India's EV market, says its Nexon EV's 40.5 kWh battery offers a range of 437 kilometres.
The cooperation aims for a volume of more than 1 million vehicles by 2030 and includes the equipment of five electric sports utility vehicles (SUV) based on INGLO, the companies said.
"The partnership not only demonstrates that our platform business is highly competitive, but also that the MEB is well on track to become one of the leading open platforms for e-mobility," Volkswagen management board member Thomas Schmall said.
Schmall declined to provide firm numbers but said that the agreement would translate into a significant operating result that he said would be comparable to a medium-sized brand within the Volkswagen group.
Volkswagen and Mahindra in May said they were exploring a partnership in the supply of electric components, making Mahindra the second large customer for the MEB platform after Ford.
They said at the time they would finalise the agreement by the end of 2022.
Mahindra has said it expects electric models to make up between 20% and 30% of its total SUV sales by March 2027. The company sells some of India's most popular combustion engine SUVs, including the Scorpio and Thar.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Ludwig Burger, Maria Sheahan, Krishna Chandra Eluri and David Evans)
