The renewed thrust on the intern-ational market would be driven by M&M’s refreshed portfolio of vehicles like the XUV700 and its upcom-ing new range of electric vehicles.
The maker of Scorpio-N and Thar SUVs is targeting a nearly threefold jump in revenue from international operations over the next two yearsand increase it further, a top company executive said.
“Our aim is to scale international operations revenue by 2.5x by FY26 and further onward,” Rajesh Jejurikar, executive director and chief executive (Automotive & Farm Equipment), M&M, told ET. “We are making products that can compete with the best in the world, at prices which are affordable. We believe that our products have reached a stage of maturity where we can go and start competing around the world.”
Mahindra currently exports vehicles to 30 countries across South Asia, Middle East and Africa, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and some left-hand drive markets in Latin America. The company recently launched the XUV700 and Scorpio-N in Australia and New Zealand, adding to South Africa where these vehicles were launched last year.
“Mahindra is the fastest growing brand in South Africa, and we have an assembly base there,” Jejurikar said.
While the first wave of global expansion is being spearheaded by the XUV700 and the Scorpio-N, Mahindra unveiled a concept pickup truck in August. Jejurikar said the concept has been designed keeping in mind key global markets for pickups.
“Of the global market of five million pickup, the segment we are targeting is two million units large. These mid-size global pickups will address multiple needs of commute, lifestyle, off-roading and sports.”
Meanwhile, the Mumbai-based automaker is also betting on EVs to enter the European market with its upcoming Born Electric range. Mahindra recently partnered with Volkswagen to use components from the German automaker’s MEB platform for electric vehicles in its Inglo platform and create a global EV portfolio. Mahindra has also begun working with other global suppliers such as Bosch, Harman, Dolby, Qualcomm, NXP, Aptiv, Visteon, Valeo, Vitesco, Tenneco, HL Klemove, ZF, and Webasto to develop global products.
“We think exports/global will be a lever for growth,” Jejurikar said.
Meanwhile, to reduce the waiting period on vehicles in the local market, and boost exports, Mahindra has started work to expand its monthly production capacity to 49,000 vehicles by March 2024, from about 29,000 vehicles in FY22.