What's in a name! M&M rebrands e-SUV to 'BE 6' amid trademark dispute with IndiGo

Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra will rebrand its electric SUV as "BE 6" from "BE 6e", after InterGlobe Aviation that owns the airline IndiGo filed a trademark infringement case against it over the name. In the meanwhile, the automaker would contest the brand rights of BE 6e, the company said in a statement Saturday.

The SUV is expected to go on sale in February 2025 and Mahindra said it "would not like to get distracted" from its vision of popularising electric transport in India".

InterGlobe Aviation last week filed a lawsuit against Mahindra Electric Automobile in the Delhi High Court, claiming that it owned the trademark for '6E,' which is also the International Air Transport Association call sign for IndiGo.


In a statement on Tuesday, InterGlobe said, "6E" is its registered trademark and an integral part of its identity for the past 18 years. Any unauthorised use of the "6E" mark, whether standalone or in any form, constitutes "an infringement of IndiGo's rights, reputation, and goodwill", it had said.

Mahindra said, it finds it unseemly that two large, Indian multinationals should engage in a distracting and unnecessary conflict when they should be championing each other's growth and expansion. "We are hence taking the decision to brand our product the 'BE 6'," it said.

"The claim by IndiGo is baseless and if not challenged, will set an unhealthy precedent of monopolising alpha-numeric 2-character marks, despite our mark being distinctive and different. This will be enormously constraining for all companies across industries and sectors. We will thus continue to strongly contest this in court and reserve our right to the brand name BE 6e," Mahindra said.

Mahindra revealed its electric origin SUVs BE 6e and XEV 9e on November 26. It has applied for trademark registration under class 12 (vehicles) for "BE 6e" as a part of its electric origin SUV portfolio, the company said.

"The mark 'BE' is already registered with Mahindra in Class 12, and it stands for our 'born electric' platform underpinning the BE 6e," it said in the statement.

Clarifying its position, the maker of XUV700 and Thar models said its mark is "BE 6e", not the standalone "6E." "We believe it differs fundamentally from IndiGo's '6E', which represents an airline, eliminating any risk of confusion."

In 2015, Tata Motors and InterGlobe got locked in a legal tangle over the use of brand name IndiGo by InterGlobe. Tata Motors had objected to InterGlobe using the IndiGo mark, given its Tata Indigo car brand. InterGlobe continues to use the mark IndiGo in a different industry and business, Mahindra said. "We therefore find their objection to 'BE 6e' to be inconsistent with their own previous conduct," it said.