Recent reports suggest that the German Automobile Manufacturer Giant Mercedes Benz is highly keen to begin manufacturing of electric cars in India and launch it on the streets of the country soon. The Managing Director of Mercedes Benz-India, Roland Folger has recently expressed his urge to the Government of India about the incentives to produce electric cars in the country. The Managing Director has further suggested that until the time local outputs are taking place, incentives on electric-vehicle imports will be viable.
Mercedes Benz company is already in the process of investing in the technology for electric mobility. The automaker’s officials have already informed that the corporation will be able to introduce electric automobiles to the people of India by 2020 if they receive adequate support from the motor vehicle and other regulatory authorities. While talking about the issue, Folger has apparently mentioned that the company would love to bring electric cars to India and that is what reflects their overall strategy.
Folger further added that to reach a targeted minimum number of vehicles, one can sell consistently and sustainably make it worthwhile investing in a factory. To make it possible, the company is demanding a ramp-up period when the incentives will be extended to the vehicles not manufactured in the country. He firmly insisted that prior taking the production to an enormous level, the companies would need a customer base to make their products sell. Folger said, Customers would want to see the vehicle, test drive them, gauge reliability, and see what happens with the battery.”
To take the discussion forward, the Managing Director of Mercedes Benz-India further said, “As far as the supplier base goes, again that’s a volume story. The faster we can ramp up, the easier it will be for us to entice manufacturers to come to India and produce batteries, which at the moment is not feasible due to smaller volumes, and that is best done by extending incentives to CBUs as well.”
Recent studies apparently say that the Government of India is targeting to make the country entirely an electric vehicle nation by 2030 and the authorities have announced to bear about 60 percent of the cost of research and development expenses required for developing an indigenous low-cost electric technology. It was observed earlier that the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk was in conversation with the Indian Government for seeking temporary relief from import penalties/restrictions until a local factory is built up. Industry experts have apparently said that with these plans and targets announced by the Government of India, the scope for electric automobile business in India reaches to an ultimate level.
German Automaker to Seek Help from Govt. To Manufacture Electric Cars in India
