While autonomous cars is something which many global manufacturers have been working on, hearing a name of an Indian company (Mahindra) acknowledge their presence in the development of the same does not seem surprising. After all, they have a team as iconic as Pininfarina at the designing helm, Tech Mahindra taking care of IT and an SUV specialist in the form of SsangYong. What’s more, they even have a racing team in the Formula E championship.
The Indian utility vehicle seller has confirmed to Autocar UK that Tech Mahindra has been designing a lot of products for other brands which entails the idea of autonomous technology. Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director of the Mahindra Group, also added that a lot of these technologies will trickle into Mahindra badged cars and electric vehicles as well. He however has not revealed any details on the expected timeline.
Pawan Goenka, Executive Director of Mahindra’s automotive arm also confirmed that these technologies will trickle down to SsangYong as well. The company has been in the competitive world of Formula E racing not just as a part of a marketing strategy, but also as a source of technology for the future. In fact rumours are high that the Mahindra has asked Pininfarina, the Italian design firm they recently acquired, to design and develop an electric supercar for them.
The company in the domestic market as been experiencing a surge in sales volumes thanks to the success stories carved by the new products. The demand for TUV 300 and KUV 100 has also taught Mahindra an important lesson in the passenger vehicle arena, India loves utility vehicles!