The first hybrid vehicles from Mahindra could be on their way as the Indian automaker looks to capitalise on the increasing popularity of petrol-electric powertrain technology.
Mahindra is one of a handful of car manufacturers not to offer a hybrid model anywhere in the world, meaning its Australian arm does not have an ‘off-the-shelf’ hybrid it can easily add to its local lineup.
Two all-electric vehicles (EVs) – the XEV 9e and the Be 6 electric SUVs – were revealed in India last year as part of Mahindra’s transition from a commercial vehicle -focused manufacturer to a fully fledged mainstream auto brand.
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While these are on the cards for eventual release Down Under, Mahindra Automotive Australia says it is aware of the growth in popularity of hybrids locally, where the hybrid-only Toyota RAV4 was Australia’s best-selling SUV in 2024 and so far in 2025.
“Hybrids are definitely part of what I call ‘the study’ – I’m calling it the study phase – and I’m just leaving it at that right now for us,” Mahindra’s head of international operations, Sachin Arolkar, told CarExpert at the recent launch of the petrol-engined Mahindra XUV 3XO – the brand’s most compact SUV yet and a challenger to the cut-price Chery Tiggo 4 small SUV.
“From a from a powertrain migration perspective, Mahindra has primarily been a diesel [powertrain producer]. From there we added petrol [engines] over the last few years.
“Now we have in our priority list moved to the EV phase… [while] not discounting anything else that could come.”
Sales of new hybrid vehicles increased by 76 per cent in Australia in 2024, and by a further 14.9 per cent in the first half of 2025.
In the first six months of this year hybrids accounted for 15 per cent of all new vehicle sales in Australia, while EVs made up 7.6 per cent (down 0.4 per cent).
Hybrid sales have also increased in the world’s two largest auto markets – China and the US – and many automakers including Volkswagen (which Mahindra partnered with for its EV tech) as well as Toyota, Honda, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo have wound back their previously self-imposed deadlines by which to stop selling internal combustion-engined (ICE) vehicles and sell only EVs.
Others like Audi have also committed to new development of combustion engines, while many other premium brands are developing V8-based plug-in hybrid powertrains.
“We’re not going full into EV unlike maybe some other brands,” Mr Arolkar said.
“We never said, for example, we are going to stop ICE within a certain timeframe. We definitely want to continue growing, evolving our options in ICE.”
Mahindra has announced a bold plan to grow its local sales six-fold by 2030 and become a top-15 auto brand in Australia by volume, and to get there it says it will launch at least one new model here annually.
The new XUV 3XO – backed by introductory pricing that makes it temporarily Australia’s cheapest SUV – sits below the XUV 700 medium SUV and the Scorpio large SUV in Mahindra’s local range, and is expected to become the Indian brand’s top-seller here.
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