M&M renames its EV as ‘BE 6’; to fight IndiGo in court

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Saturday said it will continue to “strongly contest” the use of brand rights of ‘BE 6e’ in a court of law even though it renamed one of its recently launched electric vehicles to ‘BE 6’.

M&M, India’s largest sport-utility (SUV) maker by revenue, says the name ‘BE 6e’ differs fundamentally from IndiGo’s call sign “6E,” which represents an airline, "eliminating any risk of confusion."

The automaker also gave the example of Tata Motors which had objected to InterGlobe Aviation using the 'IndiGo' brand, given Tata's popular entry-level sedan was also called 'Indigo'.

“We would like to point out that in the past, Tata Motors had objected to InterGlobe using the IndiGo mark, given their Tata Indigo car brand. InterGlobe continues to use the mark IndiGo in a different industry and business. We therefore find their objection to BE 6e to be inconsistent with their own previous conduct,” M&M says in a statement.

The statement comes after IndiGo parent InterGlobe Aviation filed a lawsuit against Mahindra Electric Automobile Ltd for alleged infringement of trademark by using the name ‘6E’ for one of its new EVs. 

The carmaker believes the claim by IndiGo is "baseless" and if not challenged, will set an "unhealthy precedent" of monopolising alpha-numeric 2-character marks, despite its mark being "distinctive" and different. "This will be enormously constraining for all companies across industries and sectors," the automaker says.

“We also find it unseemly that two large, Indian multinationals should engage in a distracting and unnecessary conflict when in fact we should be championing each other’s growth and expansion,” the statement says.

Mahindra says its registration application is for an entirely different industry sector and product and hence it does not see any conflict. “The distinct styling further emphasises its uniqueness,” the automaker says. Mahindra’s mark is “BE 6e” not the standalone “6E.”

“Our priority and focus is on ensuring an excellent experience for our customers as we take our product to the market. We would not like to get distracted from our vision of popularising electric transport in India,” the carmaker says.

“We will thus continue to strongly contest this in court and reserve our right to the brand name BE 6e,” says M&M.

On Tuesday, M&M had said it was engaged in discussions with the airline to find an "amicable" solution.

Mahindra revealed its electric origin SUVs, the BE 6e and XEV 9e, on November 26, 2024. At the launch, Mahindra executives said that the name BE 6e is a wordplay on "be sexy". Mahindra has applied for trademark registration under class 12 (vehicles) for “BE 6e” as part of its "electric origin" SUV portfolio.

Like the XUV brand for internal-combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, Mahindra announced two different brand names for its EVs—BE and XEV. The automaker's strategy has been to create a “house of brands” which allows it an opportunity to launch multiple products for multiple segments.