NEW DELHI: Hero Electric and the Mahindra Group on Wednesday announced a partnership wherein Mahindra will manufacture Hero Electric's most popular electric bikes -- Optima and NYX -- at their Pitampur plant to meet growing demand.
With this collaboration along with the expansion of their existing Ludhiana facility, Hero expects to manufacture over 1 million EVs per year by 2022.
Speaking on the announcement, Naveen Munjal, MD, Hero Electric said, "The Mahindra Group has been pioneering in electric three- and four-wheelers for many years now while driving the transition to EV across the consumer and B2B segment. With this partnership, we look to further enhance our manufacturing capabilities to meet demand and utilize the Mahindra Group's robust supply chain to reach newer centers in the country. The long-term partnership will also see both the companies make the most out of each other's deep knowledge of EVs and drive new product development in the next few years. We look forward to creating more synergies with them in the near future."
The joint development efforts will also be a key factor in developing the platform approach to help electrification of the Peugeot Motocycles' portfolio. This is expected to bring significant value to both parties through optimization of costs, timelines, and shared knowledge in this dynamic, fast-growing global EV environment, Hero Electric said in a statement.
Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director, Auto and Farm Sectors, Mahindra & Mahindra, said, "Peugeot Motocycles has ambitious plans in the EV mobility space in several regions of the world and particularly in Europe. This strategic partnership will bolster these efforts through joint development and a platform-sharing approach leveraging the combined strengths of the two businesses. Our R&D Centre in India will be integral to this arrangement as will the manufacturing facility at Pitampur, that already supplies Peugeot with EV products. I see significant value creation on a mutually beneficial basis and look forward to this partnership delivering on its obvious promise."