Some of us who have been writing about the automotive sector for a while remember the old days of the Mahindra-Ford combine. The legacy of that partnership is Ford’s first factory at Mahindra World City in Chennai and surprisingly Mahindra’s Scorpio. Several years ago, Anand Mahindra had told me in the aftermath of his company’s split with French carmaker Renault, that every joint-venture is a learning experience even if either partner did not get what they both ideally wanted. This was when everybody considered Mahindra an unreliable partner, if I recall, one automotive writer even compared them to late, great Hollywood star liz Taylor, famous for her many marriages. Anand told me that until Ford had come along, Mahindra lacked the skills and technology to weld a roof onto the frame of a car.
In fact, the Armada, which was a development of their jeep copy with the Peugeot engine was the first Mahindra to have a proper roof as a result. This was a skill that Mahindra had picked up while helping Ford set-up shop in India and making the Ford Escort. Ford had also picked up a few lessons from India, they came up with the low-cost 'Ikon' which was an European Ford Fiesta with a boot.
The Ikon was a relatively successful car, but after that Ford India sort of went into a catatonic state until they finally brought out the first-generation Figo, but really only came back to speed with the EcoSport which in India and elsewhere in the world has been a success for them.
Having created the ‘Compact SUV’ segment though, Ford has been a bit slow in capitalising on their first-mover advantage and have lost out to the Maruti-Suzuki Brezza. While the facelifted EcoSport is due out in a few weeks time, Ford India could have been a bit faster with their updates. Mahindra though did gain a lot from their tie-up with Ford, and the Scorpio while developed by Pawan Goenka and his team was put together by workers and engineers who had learned from Ford. And the Scorpio is the product that built the Mahindra that we know today. But that said, Mahindra does need a bit of a spark with their products as well, the Scorpio despite being in its 'second generation' and the XUV feel dated.
The logan/Verito born out the tie-up with Renault sank. Work has been done on products such as the TUV and the KUV, and while both are not bad products when you think about pure mobility, they don't quite come up to the standards of refinement one would expect from a car today. Simply put, the KUV and the Maruti-Suzuki Baleno are spec-to-spec similarly priced, but there is a world of difference in interiors and no comparison when it comes to driving dynamics. Where Mahindra have made a mark though, and it must be said that they have achieved this with little government support is with e-mobility. Sure, they bought out Chetan Maini's small 'Reva Electric Car Company' and the Mahindra E2O is a nice, albeit small city commuter vehicle.
The E2O is also making a mark as a electric city taxi - although it can only be as a small one given its size. In Nagpur, Mahindra, Ola and the local Member of Parliament who happens to be the Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari have collaborated on a project to ensure electric connectivity across the city. While the E2O is not a car one could consider buying just yet given its size, range limitations and size again, it is giving Mahindra vital knowledge on electric cars. As is Mahindra's extremely successful foray into the world of electric car racing with the Formula-E series where in the third season of running, Mahindra Racing has been regularly making the podium and even the top step with their drivers Felix Rosenqvist and Nick Heidfeld.
The recent decision by Ford and Mahindra to get back together will take Mahindra's burgeoning knowledge in the electric car space into mind. Sure, there will likely be a sales agreement as well, where Mahindra will help Ford in India and Ford will help Mahindra in other major markets such as Europe and possibly reignite Anand mahindra's long-standing plan to sell vehicles in the United States, where he has often mentioned the demand for small pickup trucks - the Scorpio 'Getaway' platform.
Ford has been doing some pathbreaking work on autonomous vehicles which I witnessed first-hand at Ford's headquarters at Dearborn, Michigan last year. As ridiculous of the idea of autonomous vehicles in India might sound, Mahindra and Ford working together could work on semi-autonomous solutions for India and the companies have three years to figure out what. In conversations with Ford and Mahindra executives that I have had over the past few years, they both realise that the automotive space is changing. It isn't just about electric vehicles and the threat to bulldoze the automotive industry which Nitin Gadkari threatened the industry with. This is more than that, this is a need to partner because ownership and usage patterns are also changing, millennials are not looking at cars, driving patterns are changing. And in this ever changing world, sometimes the best partners are the ones you have had before. If egos are placed aside, this partnership could work for both companies.