Mahindra to unveil new vehicle platform on Aug 15; plans new greenfield plant by FY2028

Mahindra and Mahindra, which has seen strong demand for its sports utility vehicles and recently launched electric origin SUVs, sees another good year with SUV sales expected to grow in mid-to-high teens, while the farm equipment industry is seen growing in high-single digits in 2025-26. With several new launches expected in the coming years in its ICE (international combustion engine) as well as EV portfolio, the company aims to set up a new greenfield manufacturing capacity, while it will also up its capacity in Chakan, Pune, which will cater to a new platform that it aims to unveil later this year.

 

Despite several headwinds faced by the passenger vehicle industry, primarily sluggish urban demand, M&M has bucked the trend, with its SUV-focused automotive portfolio seeing continued momentum. Its total vehicles sold last year accelerated 14 per cent to 9.41 lakh units from 8.25 lakh units in the previous year. Its tractor sales were up 12 per cent to 4.21 lakh units in 2024-25 from 3.75 lakh units in 2023-24.

 

Earlier this year, Mahindra and Mahindra launched the XEV 9E and BE6, the first of its brand new electric origin SUVs. The company had received bookings of more than 30,179 units for the new SUVs on the first day of launch and has so far delivered around 6,300 units, according to Rajesh Jejurikar, executive director and CEO (auto and farm sector) at M&M. 

 

Aided by the strong demand, M&M reported a 22 per cent year-on-year rise in standalone net profit for the January-March quarter at ₹2,437 crore, while revenue rose 24 per cent to ₹31,609 crore.

 

The company has seen a 210 basis points rise in SUV revenue market share to 22.5 per cent, while its share in the farm equipment business has surged 170 bps to 43.3 per cent. 

 

With current capacity utilisation at close to 90 per cent on the SUV side, Mahindra has plans to set up a new greenfield manufacturing facility by financial year 2028 to cater to the several new launches the company has in the ICE as well as EV segments.

 

"We haven't decided which state and where we will be in, there's work to be done. It will be a large futuristic plant that will be set up. At this point, we are thinking of it as primarily a PV (passenger vehicle) plant, but we would provision maybe for some other element of our business to come in as we start conceptualizing and seeing what kind of investment subsidies we get in different states as we plan," said Jejurikar.

 

The company is getting ready to announce a new vehicle platform on August 15 this year and it aims to create a 1.2 lakh per year production capacity for the new platform at Chakan near Pune.

 

In the current calendar year 2026, Mahindra plans to launch 3 new ICE SUVs, which will include two mid-cycle enhancements and two EVs. It will also launch two products in the light commercial vehicle segment, which will include 1 ICE and 1 EV in the less than 3.5-tonne segment. 

 

Mahindra officials agree there has been a stress in urban demand, but are hopeful of it gaining momentum in the coming months.

 

"There are several enablers which will start kicking in. Government spending, infrastructure spending, all of that will lead to demand picking up. And the smaller segments will start gaining out of the income tax benefit that will start kicking in from April. So we think that will be an enabler as well. As interest rates come down over time, I think that will be another positive enabler. So I do think that over the next few months, urban sentiment will start kicking up," said Jejurikar.

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