Roughly two years ago, in the pages of BSM we carried a funny snippet, titled ‘April Scoop’ in which we wrote about Lamborghini’s small car venture. It was, of course, a very fabricated story, and we even published an artist’s impression of what it could possibly have looked like. The base car we chose for that illustration was the Aston Martin Cygnet, but had the Mahindra e2O been around then, we would have published the images as they were. Really, if Lamborghini were to ever make a practical ultra-compact car, I’d be amazed if it looked any different than this. And that cheerful yellow (not the official codename of that colour) further helps make the association. Tractor makers of the world think alike, I say.
However, this is not a Lamborghini. This, as most of you would know, is an all-electric car made by Mahindra Reva. Which means it has got to be very practical, very reliable, spacious, not very expensive and, most importantly, very economical. So, is it? Well, let’s talk.
The e2O started life as the Reva NXR concept and was designed by DC Design (which explains the unconventional, striking architecture) and with Maini Reva being bought over by Mahindra, the e2O became the pet project on the electric car front. The original Reva was, of course, severely hampered by its severely shrunken dimensions, both inside and out, and it wasn’t very practical. Or cheap. Now, unconventionally powered vehicles aren’t exactly cheap to produce and even if you could find a way to do so, making them reliable and usable on a daily basis takes a lot of research and development. As a result, the e2O isn’t exactly cheap, but it’s a huge leap ahead from the original Reva.
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