ITV

Tag: Electric Vehicle

  • Hero MotoCorp revs up EV ambitions with new chief

    Hero MotoCorp revs up EV ambitions with new chief

    NEW DELHI: Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, has announced a significant leadership reshuffle, bringing in new talent to accelerate its push into sustainable, future-ready mobility. On 10 July 2025, the company appointed Kausalya Nandakumar as chief business officer for its emerging mobility business unit. She will report directly to  Pawan Munjal, the executive chairman, and will be tasked with shaping the strategic direction and growth of Vida, Hero MotoCorp’s electric vehicle brand.

    Nandakumar brings nearly two decades of leadership acumen from the automotive, electric mobility, and digital innovation sectors. Her appointment underscores Hero MotoCorp’s commitment to pioneering new technologies and growth platforms. She joins Hero MotoCorp after an illustrious 18-year tenure with the Mahindra Group, where she played a pivotal role in building and scaling new ventures.

    Most recently, as chief operating officer of Mahindra Electric Automobile, she spearheaded the operational readiness and market entry strategy for the company’s electric SUV business, valued at $9.8 billion. Her extensive career also includes heading business transformation for Mahindra’s farm division and leading Glyd, Mahindra’s electric shared mobility business. Notably, she conceived and built SmartShift, one of India’s pioneering digital logistics platforms, transforming it into a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

    This strategic appointment coincides with the departure of Swadesh Srivastava, who is stepping down due to health reasons. Srivastava will work closely with Nandakumar in the coming weeks to ensure a seamless handover. The company expressed its gratitude for his contributions and extended best wishes.

    Nandakumar’s academic credentials include a master’s in business administration (marketing) from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai, and a bachelor’s degree in electronics & instrumentation engineering from Mumbai University. 

    She has further refined her leadership skills through programmes at prestigious institutions such as Harvard Business School.. Her background and expertise are set to reinforce Hero MotoCorp’s ambition to lead the next era of mobility, delivering innovation with impact and driving sustainable growth.

    (If you are an Anime fan and love Anime like Demon Slayer, Spy X Family, Hunter X Hunter, Tokyo Revengers, Dan Da Dan and Slime, Buy your favourite Anime merchandise on AnimeOriginals.com.)

  • Honda & Nissan scrap merger plans, maintain EV partnership

    Honda & Nissan scrap merger plans, maintain EV partnership

    MUMBAI : In a major shift, Honda & Nissan have officially called off their proposed business integration, citing the need for quicker decision-making in the rapidly evolving electric vehicle (EV) market. The breakdown of discussions stemmed from a disagreement over Honda’s proposed restructuring, which would have made Nissan its subsidiary through a share exchange rather than forming a joint holding company. Despite this, both automakers will continue their strategic partnership to advance intelligent and electrified vehicle technologies.

    The abandoned merger was part of a broader effort by Japan’s leading automakers to strengthen global competitiveness. Initially, Honda & Nissan had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in March 2024, focusing on next-generation vehicle intelligence and electrification. The agreement was expanded in August to include joint research on software-defined vehicle (SDV) platforms. By December, talks had progressed towards a potential integration under a joint holding company, with Mitsubishi Motors also considering joining the alliance.

    Had the integration gone forward, Honda & Nissan aimed to combine their management resources, enhance R&D capabilities, optimise manufacturing, and create significant cost synergies. They projected combined annual revenues exceeding 30 trillion yen and an operating profit of more than 3 trillion yen. Mitsubishi, which was evaluating its role in the deal, planned to make a final decision by January 2025.

    Despite the setback, Honda & Nissan remain will continue to collaborate in key areas such as vehicle electrification and intelligence. While full-scale integration is off the table, their ongoing partnership signals a continued focus on innovation & market adaptability in an industry being reshaped by electric mobility & smart technologies.

  • Autocar India sets Guinness World Record for longest EV journey in India

    Autocar India sets Guinness World Record for longest EV journey in India

    Mumbai: Autocar India and Mercedes-Benz India set a Guinness World Record title for the longest journey by an electric car on a single charge, covering 949 km in the Mercedes EQS 580 from Bengaluru to Navi Mumbai. This surpasses the previous record of 916.74 km set by a Ford Mustang Mach E in the UK.

    The journey took place in monsoon conditions, with heavy rain and road detours adding to the challenge. Despite these obstacles, the Mercedes EQS 580, with its 107.8kWh battery and industry-leading aerodynamic design, managed to exceed its certified range of 857 km by more than 10 per cent.

    Autocar India’s Rahul Kakar, who drove the record-setting car, shared, “I’ve hypermiled in a lot of vehicles before, both internal combustion and EVs, but this was my first time hypermiling a luxury EV. It’s by far the most challenging test I have undertaken, as in the past I never chased to break an existing record. A lot of factors made it all the more challenging like heavy rainfall, traffic, broken roads and worst of all, getting a flat tyre. With a target to achieve, it was equal hypertension as it was hypermile as the entire time I made calculations of the remaining range of the EQS with each percentage drop in the battery. In retrospect though, all the effort and stress was well worth claiming a Guinness World Record title.”

    Autocar India celebrated this achievement as part of its 25 anniversary. Editor Hormazd Sorabjee remarked, “We are delighted to celebrate our 25 anniversary with a Guinness World Record title. This record of 949.0km on a single charge in adverse conditions is easily the most challenging drive we have ever undertaken. You can never be prepared enough for what Indian roads throw at you but some incredibly disciplined driving in a car like the EQS which has the best range and an efficient aerodynamic shape, helped us overcome all obstacles to achieve this amazing distance without plugging in”

    Mercedes-Benz India’s managing director & CEO, Santosh Iyer said, “I thank all the early adopters of BEVs and every EQS customer for their trust in Mercedes-Benz, for creating a greener planet, by leading this BEV transition from the front. Congratulations to the Autocar India team for accomplishing the Guinness World Record title, driving a ‘Made in India’ EQS sedan, under real and arduous driving conditions from Bengaluru to Navi Mumbai during the monsoon.”

  • Volvo & Mindshare launch ‘Volvoverse’ campaign to provide 3D experience to customers

    Volvo & Mindshare launch ‘Volvoverse’ campaign to provide 3D experience to customers

    Mumbai: Volvo Car India has announced the launch of its first-ever electric vehicle in the Metaverse called ‘Volvoverse.’ The campaign launch is conceptualised by Mindshare India. This is the first-of-its-kind collaboration on Metaverse across WPP India agencies.

    The Volvo XC40 Recharge is being launched in a virtual world by Volvo Car India managing director Jyoti Malhotra, while ushering in a new era of digital platforms for Volvo customers with accessible 3D experiences.

    Mindshare collaborated with other WPP agencies including Hogarth, Yonder, Grey, and Genesis BCW to deliver ‘Volvoverse’, realising the group’s ambition for customers to efficiently access specialist companies in the group to achieve their objectives with a single point of contact.

    Mindshare South Asia CEO Amin Lakhani said, “We at Mindshare strive to provide our clients with tech-enabled, creative branding solutions. The concept behind launching the XC40 Recharge in the metaverse was to launch the EV in a sustainable ecosystem, following the vision of Volvo. The metaverse is evolving the internet by bringing people closer. Using virtual worlds, we are looking to reach out to the maximum audience. We are excited to do the first-ever EV launch in the metaverse with a campaign that appeals to our audience in an exciting new environment, which is the first of its kind.”

    Speaking about this unique experience, Malhotra said, “Volvo has always been at the forefront of innovation and technology, and we, as a company, are also globally known for our commitment to sustainability. The launch of the XC40 Recharge on the metaverse platform is a pioneering moment leveraging digital technology in the marketing sphere. The metaverse launch also contributes to our sustainability mission as it leaves a negligible carbon footprint as compared to conventional launches.”

    Hogarth India CEL Gopikaa Davar added, “Hogarth is committed to reaching net zero by 2030, and we are excited to partner with Mindshare and Volvo on a project which brings together both our focus areas of sustainable production and the metaverse. Launching an electric vehicle in the virtual world is only befitting as a conscious alternative to a physical event where an average conference attendee would have produced around 170 kg of CO2 emissions in a one-day event. This is a great example of how we are all reducing and mitigating the environmental impact by using virtual studios and green screen shoots as a driving force, removing the need for location shoots and events (reduces carbon footprint) and maximising the utilisation of the content we capture.”

  • Yulu onboards Sandilya Konduri as Head of Product

    Yulu onboards Sandilya Konduri as Head of Product

    Mumbai: The shared electric mobility and battery-as-a-service company, Yulu appointed Sandilya Konduri as head of product. He will drive the product vision, lifecycle strategy and implementation for Yulu to deliver world-class products that can offer a superlative user experience.

    Konduri will also focus on the adoption of the latest technology, tools and product management practices to help build a thriving product culture at Yulu, as the company looks to scale its shared mobility & battery-as-a-service (BaaS) businesses. He comes with deep expertise in product management and supply chain analytics.

    Prior to joining Yulu, he was the Group Product Manager at Flipkart and had the opportunity to resolve critical platforms in the Supply Chain & Optimisation space. He has also contributed to Flipkart’s IP through 2 patents that he co-authored with his colleagues.

    He has also worked for companies like ITC Infotech as a lead consultant and Dell as their senior analyst & advisor previously.

    Welcoming him to the company, Yulu co-founder & CTO Naveen Dachuri said, “We are delighted to have Sandilya on board. Electric mobility in India is at a tipping point, and Yulu is very well-positioned to lead this phase of hyper-growth for shared mobility.”

    Sandilya will help bring in product thought-leadership, accelerate the adoption of the latest technology to stay ahead of the curve and build a culture of continuous innovation within the product team.

    He will prioritize close alignment & collaboration between the product team and engineering, business, operations, marketing, data and other teams to ensure smooth & speedy execution of the product roadmap. “I am sure he will coach and groom the wonderful talent at Yulu to create a world-class product culture and we look forward to this new phase in our product journey,” said Dachuri.

    Commenting on his new role, he said, “I am very excited to join Yulu as I see a tremendous scope in what we are working towards, which is to create sustainable mobility solutions tailor-made for India & India-like markets, powered by technology.”

    “The priority will be to balance user needs and business priorities, and keep iterating with new innovations & product features to continuously raise the bar. Another focus area will be to build a culture that is user-centric, insights-driven & analytics-based when it comes to making product decisions, prioritisation & resource allocation,“ added Konduri

    He further added, “I genuinely believe that we are at a very interesting time in history, where the coming years will put India on the global map for the kind of Products & Services we design and offer. Congestion and infrastructure shortage are problems that we are grappling with today. As we move ahead, Yulu will not only play a significant role in shaping the perception of shared electric mobility in India, but will also drive the change in the way we imagine EV mobility globally.”