Mahindra has committed to adding at least two fully electric SUVs to its Australian showrooms in a move that will be commercially necessary if the diesel-powered Lifestyler ute (pick-up truck) is a sales success.

The XEV 9e and seven-seat XEV 9S are under serious consideration for Australia. The XEV 9e has already been spotted testing in Melbourne, while a third EV, the unusually styled BE 6, could be added later.

The strategy is tied directly to Australia's New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, or NVES. Carmakers must balance the CO2 output of the vehicles they sell against targets that become stricter every year.

Selling EVs improves the result and can generate credits to offset higher-emission models. High-CO2 diesel-powered utes such as brand's incoming Lifestyler are among the toughest to offset.

Mahindra international operations chief Sachin Arolkar told a local daily that the Indian brand aimed to "balance NVES at a portfolio level".

XEV 9e

Already in testing locally, the XEV 9e is emerging as the most likely debut EV for Mahindra in Australia. Available in 59 kWh/170 kW or 79 kWh/210 kW variants, both with LFP battery chemistry, the XEV 9e would offer up to 533 km of range (WLTP) with 175 kW DC charging.

Those specifications are competitive, particularly in light of Chinese rivals such as the XPeng G6 offering 800V charging speeds in the early-AUD 50,000 (US$ 35,690) price range.

It is likely that brand would need to adopt pricing below the AUD 50,000 mark to stand out in the crowded midsize electric SUV field in Australia, particularly as the brand has no existing reputation as an EV manufacturer in the local market.

Inside, the XEV 9e has been recently updated with a new dashboard layout based around three 12.3-inch displays with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus an available 16-speaker Harman Kardon stereo and glass roof.

XEV 9S

The XEV 9S could be another option for the company. Despite being shorter than the XEV 9e, the XEV 9S packages seven seats atop the same INGLO electric architecture as its sibling, with a 79 kWh battery, 210 kW/380 Nm RWD powertrain, and a 20%-80% charge time of around 20 minutes.

Pricing for the XEV 9S could position brand as an alternative to the six-seat Tesla Model Y, which starts at AUD 74,990 in Australia, while also placing it below larger three-row EVs such as the Kia EV9.

Such a product could be suitable for rideshare operators in Australia. Available equipment includes cooled first- and second-row seating, rear window shades and dual wireless phone chargers.

BE 6

The BE 6 is another possibility. At just 4,371mm long, it sits closer in size to familiar models such as the BYD Atto 3 and Kia EV3 while using Mahindra's RWD platform and offering a choice of 59 kWh, 70 kWh and 79 kWh batteries.

Inside, a driver-focused twin-screen setup is used along with an augmented-reality HUD.

In India, company allows buyers to purchase the BE 6 without a battery for as little as AUD 16,700 before leasing the pack at a cost of AUD 0.05/km. In Australia, it is more likely that the entire vehicle will be bundled together.

With camouflaged XEV 9e units already under evaluation on Australian roads and company executives indicating that the company will need to sell a range of EVs to avoid emissions penalties under NVES laws, the new models could eventually be confirmed.

How competitively priced EVs need to be will largely depend on how successful the diesel-powered Lifestyler ute is. The more Lifestylers the Indian brand sells, the more EVs it will need to sell to offset the pick-up's CO2 figure and avoid an NVES penalty.

Given that the Lifestyler will not get a hybrid option until later this decade at the earliest, the incoming EVs could play a significant role in helping the company meet its emissions requirements for some time.