Reva venture partner and leading automobile group, Mahindra & Mahindra has stated that they have no future plans to bring the 4 seater electric vehicle Reva-i in Gujarat as the state government did not have any special incentives to promote electric vehicles.

Mr. Pawan Goenka, president automotive and farm equipment sectors, Mahindra & Mahindra stated that initially they started with 2 cities and now they have already set footprints of Reva-i in six major cities across the country. He added that to boost the sales of electric vehicles, state governments should come ahead with incentives else such concepts are not viable. At present they have no plans to sell Reva-i in Gujarat. He also added that they welcome recently provided subsidy scheme from Ministry of New and Renewable energy (MNRE), and said that government incentives will also play a vital role in promoting electric vehicles.

 

This electric vehicle sensation, Reva-i is priced within the range of 2.7 – 2.8 lakhs in cities like Delhi and Bangalore where the state governments have highly appreciated the electric vehicles concept and availed incentives for their promotion. Mahindra & Mahindra is in talks with other state governments for incentive schemes for electric vehicles.

However, Gujarat has been on boom in the farm equipment sector in this financial year which is double of the national average. Goenka stated that there has been a significant rise of 40 percent in this financial year for tractor industry, on the other hand the overall growth was around 20 percent. He added that Mahindra & Mahindra contributed 77 percent growth with sales of 7,000 units in initial 8 months of this financial year.

 

M&M sells around 8 percent of its total sales figures for tractors. The company has confronted with peak sales figures with its mini-tractors Yuvraj which is currently available in Gujarat and Rajasthan. M&M officials stated that the company will also boost its production capacity from 500 units per month to 1500 units per month by 2011, thereby providing ample of employment oppurtunities at the manufacturing facility. At present the gujarat manufacturing facility employs around 200 people and will come up with more recruitments in future with their expansion strategies.