For decades, Mahindra meant one thing in the minds of Indian car buyers: the rugged, unapologetically boxy utility vehicle that could ford a river, climb a hill, and rattle you senseless on the way home. Durability and go-anywhere capability built the brand's reputation — beauty never got a look in. Design was a functional afterthought, not a reason to sign on the dotted line. That perception is now being dismantled with striking speed, and Rajesh Jejurikar has been refreshingly candid about why. Speaking with The Economic Times, he laid out how Mahindra deliberately reinvented itself as a design-first automaker — a philosophical shift reshaping not just the product line but the company's entire global identity.

The clearest evidence sits in the showroom. The XEV 9e, Mahindra's flagship electric SUV, is not a machine built to survive a dirt track. It's a machine built to turn heads — sculpted silhouette, aerodynamic proportions, a futuristic lighting signature that belongs to a design language deliberately global rather than regionally utilitarian. When the Bhutanese government took delivery of 54 XEV 9e EVs, the images that circulated showed a fleet that looked less like government workhorses and more like premium embassy cars. That, precisely, is the point. Mahindra no longer wants to be the brand you buy because it's tough. It wants to be the brand you buy because it's beautiful.

Why Design Is the New Battleground

This pivot is not cosmetic vanity. It's a hard-nosed calculation about where global automotive value is migrating. In the electric era, mechanical differentiation is narrowing fast. Motors are compact, batteries are flat, platforms are increasingly shared. What's left to separate one brand from another is design — the shape, the proportion, the emotional pull of the object parked in your driveway. Mahindra grasped earlier than most legacy utility makers that competing beyond India's borders meant speaking the language of form as fluently as it spoke the language of function.

It's a lesson the wider industry is still learning. For years, engineering spec sheets decided winners. Now the showroom stare does. Mahindra appears to have understood that if the hardware converges, the sheet metal — and the light signature, and the stance — becomes the argument.

The Thar Keeps Its Soul

The Thar remains the emotional anchor of the brand, and its upcoming facelift is instructive. Rather than abandoning the icon's rugged DNA, Mahindra is refining it — sharpening the details, modernising the interface, polishing the surfaces without sanding away the character. Two further SUVs are slated for arrival by 2027, and the company has signalled that each will carry forward the design-led philosophy now embedded in its development process.

The message is clear: Mahindra will keep its off-road soul, but it will dress it in couture. That's a delicate act. Strip too much away and you alienate the faithful; change too little and you stay trapped in the past. So far, the balance looks deliberate rather than cautious.

Racing, Purpose, and the Wider Ecosystem

What makes this pivot credible rather than aspirational is the ecosystem of innovation surrounding it. Mahindra Racing competes in Formula E, the world's premier electric racing series, where aerodynamic efficiency is measured in fractions of a second — and that motorsport discipline feeds directly into road-car design thinking. Meanwhile, Mahindra Last Mile Mobility has been named a finalist for The Earthshot Prize 2026, recognition that the company's ambitions extend beyond aesthetics into genuine sustainability leadership. Design, electrification, and purpose are converging into a single brand narrative — one far more compelling than the sum of its parts.

The Unglamorous Backdrop

Transformation on this scale invites scrutiny, and rightly so. Questions about workforce composition — with temporary labour now accounting for a striking share of the auto industry's headcount — and persistent concerns about road behaviour in India form the unglamorous backdrop against which this reinvention unfolds. A brand that aspires to global style leadership must also lead on responsibility. Style, after all, is easy to photograph. Substance is harder to prove.

Yet the direction of travel is unmistakable. Mahindra has stopped asking whether design matters and started asking what its design should say to the world. The answer, increasingly, is that it says something worth hearing — and worth buying. From workhorse to style leader, the transformation is no longer a promise. It's parked in the showroom, catching the light.

幾十年來，Mahindra在印度車迷心目中只有一個形象：線條硬淨、方方正正的越野工具車，可以涉水爬坡，但揸返屋企嘅路上就震到你五臟六腑都移位。耐用同乜路都去得，就係呢個品牌嘅全部賣點——靚唔靚？從來唔係考慮因素。設計只係功能之後嘅附屬品，絕對唔會係你簽支票嘅理由。但呢個印象，而家正以驚人速度被打破，而Rajesh Jejurikar亦好坦白咁講出箇中原因。佢接受《經濟時報》訪問時，清楚交代Mahindra點樣刻意將自己重新定位為一間「設計先行」嘅車廠——呢個唔單止係產品線嘅轉變，而係整個品牌全球身份嘅哲學重塑。

最明顯嘅證據，就擺喺陳列室度。XEV 9e，Mahindra嘅旗艦電動SUV，唔係一部為咗喺泥地求生而造嘅機器。佢係一部為咗搶眼球而存在嘅機器——流線型輪廓、符合空氣動力學嘅比例、充滿未來感嘅燈光簽名，屬於一套刻意走向全球、而非停留喺地區實用主義嘅設計語言。當不丹政府接收54部XEV 9e電動車嗰陣，流出嚟嘅照片顯示，呢批車隊睇落唔似政府苦力車，反而似高級使館用車。呢個，正正就係重點所在。Mahindra唔再想做一個「因為夠硬淨所以買」嘅品牌。佢想做嘅，係一個「因為夠靚所以買」嘅品牌。

為何設計成為新戰場

呢個轉向唔係表面功夫。呢個係一個對全球汽車價值流向嘅精算判斷。喺電動車年代，機械上嘅差異化正急速收窄。摩打細細粒、電池扁扁哋、底盤平台越嚟越共用。剩返低可以區分品牌嘅，就係設計——嗰個形狀、嗰個比例、嗰件泊喺你車房門口嘅物件所帶嚟嘅情感牽引。Mahindra比大部分傳統越野車廠更早睇通：要衝出印度，就要講形態嘅語言講得同功能嘅語言一樣流利。

呢個係整個行業仲喺度學緊嘅一課。好多年以嚟，工程規格表決定勝負。而家，係陳列室入面嗰一眼決定一切。Mahindra似乎已經明白，當硬件趨向同質化，鈑金——連同燈光簽名同車身姿態——就係你嘅論據。

Thar保留靈魂

Thar依然係品牌嘅情感錨點，而佢即將推出嘅facelift好有啟示性。Mahindra冇放棄呢個icon嘅粗獷DNA，反而係將佢精煉——修靚細節、現代化介面、打磨表面，但唔會磨走性格。另外仲有兩款SUV計劃喺2027年前登場，車廠已經暗示每一款都會延續而家已嵌入開發流程嘅設計主導哲學。

訊息好清楚：Mahindra會保留佢嘅越野靈魂，但會同佢着上高訂時裝。呢個係一門好刁鑽嘅功夫。剝得太多，你會得失忠實擁躉；改得太少，你就被困喺過去。到目前為止，個平衡睇落係經過深思熟慮，而唔係畏首畏尾。

賽車、使命與更廣闊嘅生態圈

令呢個轉向有說服力而唔係得個講字嘅，係圍繞住佢嘅創新生態圈。Mahindra Racing出戰Formula E，全球頂級電動賽車系列賽，喺嗰度空氣動力效率係以零點幾秒嚟量度——而嗰種賽車紀律直接回饋到量產車嘅設計思維。同時，Mahindra Last Mile Mobility獲選為The Earthshot Prize 2026嘅決賽入圍者，呢個認可顯示公司嘅野心超越美學，延伸到真正嘅可持續發展領導地位。設計、電動化同使命，正匯聚成單一品牌敘事——比各部分加起來更加引人入勝。

唔起眼嘅背景

呢種規模嘅轉型自然會引嚟審視，而呢個係應該嘅。關於勞動力結構嘅問題——臨時工而家佔汽車行業從業員一個驚人比例——同印度道路行為嘅持續關注，構成咗呢場重塑工程唔起眼嘅背景。一個立志成為全球風格領導者嘅品牌，亦必須喺責任方面帶頭。風格，畢竟容易影相。實質，就難證明得多。

不過，方向已經毫無疑問。Mahindra已經唔再問設計重唔重要，而係開始問佢嘅設計應該向世界講啲乜。答案越嚟越清晰：佢講嘅嘢值得聽——亦值得買。由苦力車到風格領導者，呢場蛻變已經唔再係一個承諾。佢就泊喺陳列室度，閃閃發亮。