It depends how you look at it - several years later than planned - or - several years ahead of the competition. Whatever your perspective, the Mahindra Reva NXR was finally unveiled at the Delhi Auto Show this week. It is the second coming as the same car was also unveiled in September 2009 at the Frankfurt Auto Show, but then that's what happens when you run out of money and have to sell a majority stake in the company.
It has been a long road for Chetan Maini. It must be a huge challenge to bring an electric car to market if you are a global US or European vehicle manufacturer with decades of automotive experience. If you are a start-up in India well, then it is like climbing Mount Everest in sneakers.
A 5 door hatchback with room for 4 adults, the NXR will not be the fastest EV in production, or have the greatest range, or be the most luxurious, but when the price is announced in the next couple of months it will almost certainly be the cheapest full M1 electric car available to buy anywhere. It will be built at the new low carbon factory in Bangalore, itself nearly four years in the making, as part of Mahindra Reva's desire to build a complete EV ecosystem for India.
This is the production version of the NXR and it is better quality than the vehicle that was unveiled at Frankfurt. I can see the compromises in the show car, such as the steering wheel, which looks like it has come from one of Mahindra's tractor parts bins, but that is a discipline that Mahindra bring to the party. It is going to be a challenge for the Mahindra Reva marketing team to persuade a nation that buys on price to pay more for a car just because it doesn't have a tailpipe. I am sure they will learn from Tata's mistakes made when positioning the Nano as the poor people's car however and create the right context for the brand.
But it's easy to stand on the sidelines and comment when instead I should really be celebrating the outcome of many years of hard work and dedication. So congratulations to everyone at the company, I wish you the success you deserve.
