Mahindra arms itself with a large EV to defend its revenue lead against Tatas

Its two earlier SUVs were five-seaters, with the BE 6 priced at ₹18-28 lakh and XEV 9e at ₹21-31 lakh.

With fresh competition from Maruti Suzuki’s e-Vitara next week and Tata Motors’ Sierra EV in the pipeline for next fiscal, Mahindra is widening its portfolio to seven-seaters to capture higher-ticket customers in a segment that accounts for nearly half the utility vehicle market’s revenue. The push comes as Mahindra and Tata battle for EV supremacy, as well as for the number two position in India’s overall passenger vehicle market.

“We are back on top in October in revenue market leadership. Between April to October, we were the number one player," Rajesh Jejurikar, executive director and chief executive (auto and farm sectors) told reporters on the sidelines of the launch in Bengaluru.

Unlike traditional sales market share where firms track their sales volume against competitors, Mahindra is tracking the amount of money it makes from its SUVs as against competitors revenue market share.

Mahindra has added a third electric vehicle, the XEV 9s, to its stable to take on cars like Tata Harrier EV and Kia Carens Clavis EV. The maker of popular passenger vehicles Scorpio and Bolero said it wants to stick to its core DNA of SUV and offer large family vehicles to customers to drive EV penetration.

In the last seven months, Mahindra has sold over 30,000 electric SUVs, competing with the likes of Tata Motors, MG Motor India and Hyundai Motor India.

It recorded revenue of more than ₹8,000 crore from EV sales in April-September, constituting nearly 9% of the total revenue of ₹91,635 crore for the period. As per its investor presentation for the September quarter, the company had 33.1% revenue market share as against 34.3% with the leading OEM (original equipment manufacturer). The presentation doesn't name the OEM, but executives in the know suggest it is Tata Motors.

During April-September, the first half of the fiscal year, its revenue market share was at 37.9% as against Tata Motors 29%.

While the company did not reveal the expectation of monthly sales from the new model XEV 9s, it is looking to increase the total monthly production of EVs from 5,000 to 7,000 units by the start of the next financial year.

In an interview with Mint, Nalinikanth Gollagunta, chief executive of Mahindra’s auto division, said the seven-seater market has an EV opportunity but the extent will only be known after the cars are sold to consumers in the January-March quarter.

“It is anybody guess, is it 20% (of overall 7-seater SUV segment), is it 30%, is it 40%, but I know it is not going to be 90% and I know it is not going to be 10%," Gollagunta said. He said another opportunity for the vehicle will come from consumers looking to upgrade from five-seater SUVs to seven-seater ones.

While Mahindra is locked in competition with other OEMs on retaining revenue leadership in the eSUV segment, Gollagunta said the company is not always looking to react to competition. "Fundamental philosophy within the organization is that we are not looking down my shoulder or on the sideways, we focus on the customer; this is not a myth, that is the only way we work," he said, adding, “What we measure internally is something called brand power, how strong is my brand compared to competition."

As per Mahindra's analysis, the addressable market for seven-seaters is 30% of the total 2.7 million utility vehicle market, with about 50% of the revenue share.

EV seven-seaters are seen boosting the company's revenues as EV models are already in the pricier segment, and within that the seven-seaters will bring a bigger revenue opportunity, company executives said.

Having started out with EVs only last year, Mahindra is eyeing a 20-25% share of the green vehicles in its overall portfolio by 2028.

Jejurikar told reporters that the company is happy with the pace of EV adoption in the country and remains confident that GST cut for ICE (internal combustion engine), or traditional fossil fuel, vehicles will not hurt the prospects for EVs.

India's EV penetration, which was 2.5% in FY25, has touched the 5% mark in FY26.

"Forget about price parity with internal combustion vehicles, we have managed to bring the cost of the vehicle even lower than many of the ICE seven-seaters. This is in addition to the number of new features we have been able to get for consumers," Gollagunta said.

Another key advantage in the battle against other carmakers is how the company has been able to derisk its supply chain and crack good cost structures, Jejurikar said. "How we have managed to do it is a competitive input. But the fact is our production did not suffer any disruption over the last few months," he said.

On the question of whether the company is taking losses on its balance sheet to offer these new SUVs at competitive prices, Jejurikar said the company has been able to build good enough cost structures to not lose money on its advanced SUVs despite offering range of new features at a low price.

The seven-seater Tata Harrier EV is priced at ₹21-30 lakh, while the similar seating capacity Kia Carens Clavis EV is for ₹18-25 lakh, as against the ₹19.9-29.9 lakh tag for Mahindra's XEV 9S.

Mahindra's push to win in the EV market comes at a time when it is looking to cement its position as the new number two in the country's passenger vehicle market, dethroning Hyundai Motor India. In the first nine months of 2025, Mahindra sold over 446,697 passenger vehicles as against 425,330 by Hyundai. Tata Motors sold 410,155 in the same period. Maruti Suzuki is number 1, with 1.4 million vvehicle sales in the same period.

Only Tata Motors has a more comprehensive EV portfolio than Mahindra among the top carmakers, with both the automakers hoping to establish themselves as the number two in country's growing car market.