Mahindra Electric plugs out of UK’s EV market

Just about a year after it entered the electric vehicle segment in the UK with the e2O which was sold only as an online-sale model, Mahindra Electric, the EV arm of Mahindra & Mahindra, is understood to have pulled out from the market.  

The decision could impact M&M’s EV growth game-plan in Europe. The UK, which is Europe's biggest market for plug-in electric cars, along with Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands has seen a considerable uptick in EV sales in the past year. At the e2O’s UK launch on April 15, 2016, the company had said, “The all-electric Mahindra e2o promises to close the price gap between diesel and electric cars while reducing fuel costs to under £10 per month.”

As per a Reuters report, poor sales of the e2O and the impact of Brexit seem to have accelerated the decision to stop e2O sales leave the UK market. In a letter dated April 10 to a buyer in the UK states: "The level of e2o sales achieved is at an untenable level for us to maintain the investment required, hence our decision to cease trading at Mahindra UK with immediate effect.”

"Immediately post Brexit, the e2o has not met the desired sales targets as per the plans for the UK market," a Mahindra spokesman said in an emailed response to Reuters.

"We'll reconsider the UK market at an opportune time," the spokesperson said, mentioning that the company will focus on the India market where sales of EVs are poised to take off.

M&M's reply to BSE
On May 3, in a clarification to the Bombay Stock Exchange in response to the Reuters report, Mahindra & Mahindra said, “We wish to clarify that the said news item does not pertain to Mahindra & Mahindra. It pertains to a subsidiary of the company. No final decision is taken as of now. There is no material impact on the company.”