Mahindra trying to back away from another U.S. deal?

Mahindra trying to back away from another U.S. deal?

by Zach Bowman (RSS feed) on Dec 27th 2010 at 8:29AM

After Mahindra notoriously backed out of a deal with a U.S. supplier, Compact pickup fans are still licking their wounds over the news that the company's trucks won't be coming to our shores anytime soon. As it turns out, Global Vehicles USA may not be the only American company to have been wronged by Mahindra. According to The Post-Standard, electric car start-up Bannon Automotive LLC has filed a law-suit against both Reva Electric Car Company of Bangalore, India and Reva's parent company, Mahindra & Mahindra. Bannon Automotive claims that the two broke a deal that gave Bannon exclusive rights to both build and sell the vehicle here in the states.

As part of the suit, Bannon Automotive is seeking to force the Reva Electric Car Company to give the American manufacturer a license to build the NXR electric car and to prevent any other company from doing the same. Bannon had previously said that the NXR would be able to travel up to 120 miles on a single charge and would cost somewhere between $17,000 and $25,000.

Bannon had signed a memorandum of understanding with Reva in October, but after Mahindra bought the company, it was made clear that the NXR wasn't ready for manufacture here in America. Meanwhile, Bannon is convinced that Mahindra is planning to make or sell its own electric car in the U.S. without its former partner. Thanks for the tip, Christian!

link:

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/12/27/mahindra-trying-to-back-away-from-another-u-s-deal/