Reva Electric to expand dealer network

Chennai: The country''s first and the only electric car manufacturer, Reva Electric Car Company is planning to increase its presence to 20 cities within a year. The Bangalore-based company has appointed a dealer in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad each this fiscal taking the total number of dealerships to six.

"We have sold 600 cars in the domestic market since launch. We are yet to tap the two biggest car markets of India — Mumbai and Delhi," says managing director, Chetan Maini.

"Given that Reva is the first electric vehicle to be rolled out commercially in India, we are satisfied with the numbers," he says and adds, "we are also in the process of enhancing awareness levels through above-the-line and below-the-line activities like focused advertising, target specific communication, road shows and other events to increase our visibility."

However, the high point for the company this fiscal is the export order for 500 cars from the UK. This, coupled with better domestic demand, necessitated capacity increase from 50 cars to 250 cars per month. The company has a tie-up with the UK-based Going Green for GWiz (the export version of Reva). According to Maini, Reva is test marketed in UK, USA, Japan, Malta, Switzerland, Norway, Romania and Ireland.

The export model incorporates features such as climate control seats and remote control heating, making it the first car with these features in the international market.

"With a steadily growing acceptance of electric vehicles, we expect to sell approximately 400 cars per month by 2005," says Maini. Research is continuing on fast-charging batteries, extending the range of the vehicle beetween battery charges and higher performance vehicles. Meanwhile Reva Electric is still negotiating for the $15 million loan from International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other financial institutions.