Reva Electric Car Company is planning to launch an air-conditioned version of its electric car 'Reva' by September-October 2002.
It has also launched a classic model of the vehicle recently. "The Reva Classe has additional features such as swanky accessories, soft-touch interiors, a Kenwood stereo system, and advanced security system," Chetan Maini, managing director, said.
"We will also start taking bookings for the AC version of the car very soon," he said. The company is working on the pricing of the AC version, and expects it to cost Rs 30,000 more than the original car, which is priced between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 2.7 lakh in different cities.
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The company intends to increase its production capacity from 2,000 cars a year to 6,000 cars a year. "We have planned an expansion capacity of 12,000 cars by 2004," he said. It is planning to launch the car in 25 cities by the year end. At present, the car is available in Bangalore, Delhi, Jodhpur, Chennai, Surat and Goa.
Since its launch in July last year, the company has managed to sell only 270 cars. With the increase in distribution, the company is hopeful of selling at least 200 cars every month. "We intend to touch a figure of 1500 by the end of this fiscal and 4000 by next year," said Maini.
The company is also aggressively tapping the export potential of the car. "We expect at least 30-40 per cent of our turnover to come from the exports," he said. It has already signed agreements with companies in Nepal, Japan and Israel. The first batch of eight cars has already been dispatched to Nepal. "We have got export enquiries from many countries and have sent the sample cars for certification to many countries," said Maini.
The countries it is targeting include the UK, China, Switzerland and Hong Kong.
"We hope to export at least 1,000 cars to these markets by next year," said Maini. The company is also modifying the car depending upon the requirements of different markets.
Reva Electric is a joint venture between the Bangalore-based Maini Group and California-based AEVT Inc. It manufactures the electric car at Bommasandra Industrial Area in Bangalore.