Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) will invest up to 176 crore for a 16 percent share in self-drive car-rental service provider, Zoomcar. The company sees potential for growth in the shared mobility space and says that acquiring Zoomcar will help accelerate EV adoption here.
Pawan Goenka, managing director, Mahindra & Mahindra, said, “At Mahindra, we are playing a pioneering role in the shared mobility business and are looking forward to an impetus in it through this investment in Zoomcar.” The car rental service intends to use M&M's experience in mobility and looks to accelerate the transformation to a shared, electric mobility future for India. “We are happy to have Mahindra on board as we step into the next phase of growth," said Greg Moran, co-founder and CEO, Zoomcar.
Mahindra and Zoomcar, last year, announced that they would collaborate to introduce electric vehicles into the shared mobility space. Zoomcar launched Mahindra e20Plus EVs across Mysore, Bangalore, and Hyderabad that are part of its rental service. The company wants to add 500 Mahindra EVs across more than 20 cities pan-India in early 2018.
Mahindra has also tied up with Uber to supply electric vehicles on Uber's platform.