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| Mahindra Reva to launch five electric cars Thu, 13 Sep 2012 00:39:40 +0530 |
| Business Standard Economy Policy News Two months ahead of the launch of a much-awaited next-gen electric car, Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles Pvt Ltd is finalising an aggressive product road map to expand its business in India and foreign markets. The Mahindra Group company, which is likely to launch its new electric car, the four-seater Reva NXR, during Diwali, has lined up five new models, including three from Mahindra platforms and two from Reva, for launch till 2016. The new car is packed with a host of world-first technology features. “We are currently working on five models for launch in the next four years. Our aim is to launch one new vehicle or a new variant every year till 2016. We are right now doing the trial run of Mahindra Verito, Gio and Maxximo from the Mahindra platforms,” said Chetan Maini, chief technology and strategy officer, Mahindra Reva.. He said the company had started trial production at its new manufacturing plant in Bangalore, which was inaugurated last month. The full production will commence in the next two weeks. After the Mahindra Group acquired erstwhile Reva Electric Car Co, it has invested over Rs 100 crore to set up the Bangalore plant, with an annual capacity of 30,000 units. Maini said the new electric car, Reva NXR (it will be renamed at the time of launch), will be priced at least 20 per cent higher than its existing car, REVAi, which is sold at Rs 4.87 lakh (ex-showroom, Bangalore). The new car will have a lithium ion battery for the first time, to run for about 100 km for a full charge of six hours. The company is also finalising a plan to develop infrastructure across key markets for electric cars under a public-private partnership model. “We are in talks with several state governments and public and private sector players like State Bank of India and Café Coffee Day, among others, to develop infrastructure like rapid charging systems for electric cars,” Maini said. The company intends to first launch the car in Bangalore and Delhi and later expand to other key cities where the respective state governments are offering incentives for buyers, he said. Reva is waiting for the government to launch the new national policy on electric vehicles. Recently, the National Council on Electric Mobility had recommended to the government a Rs 23,000-crore programme to encourage and promote use of electric vehicles. The government is currently giving final touches to the national policy. In the 12 years since its launch, Reva has sold 4,600 cars in India and abroad. About 1,000 cars were sold in London, 300 in Norway and about 3,000 in India, half of these in Bangalore. |
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