Tube Investments' EV plan

The company has set up an exclusive EV arm, and is foraying into making three-wheelers and tractors that will have a high level of local sourcing.  

- ShahkarAbidi

Tube Investments of India, the flagship company of Murugappa Group, is transforming itself from being just a component supplier to the automotive sector to making a mark of itself in the e-mobility segment. It hopes to do this by foraying into the manufacturing of electric three-wheelers, tractors, and heavy commercial vehicles for which it has signed an agreement recently. While the company’s existing three-wheeler offering will be branded as Montra and is expected to get launched in both passenger as well as cargo categories by late August or September, its tractor offerings will be branded as Cellestial Egati, and are likely to be unveiled later during the year.

According to Arun Murugappan, executive chairman, the company will keep to electric three-wheelers and tractors for now before diversifying into other categories. "We will expand our offerings as we progress," Murugappan told Autocar Professional highlighting the fact that the company’s electric offerings would be positioned in the premium segment. On the sourcing front, Murugappan is clear that it will be completely local adding that the products slated for launch have already been tested rigoursley over a three-year period. He said the government’s incentives and sops for electric vehicles would help in the initial phases of its expansion plan.