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TVS-backed high-performance e-motorcycle manufacturer, Ultraviolette Automotive, says a $100 million investment has been planned to ramp up operations over the next three years. The company will open its first flagship store in Bengaluru by the end of CY22.
“From R&D to production, we have spent close to $30 million. Now, going forward, we intend to spend another $100 million to scale up our operations and build a pan-India presence. Additionally, we will also start establishing an international presence,” said Narayan Subramaniam, co-founder and CEO, Ultraviolette. It intends to target the European and North American markets.
The company plans to open its flagship store in Bengaluru soon. As part of its initial rollout plan, the company will focus on the top cities in the country, including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Kochi, Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi. According to the CEO, tier-2 cities are also generating a significant level of interest. Despite having no plans to develop stores in those cities, the company intends to meet demand by setting up touch points.
Flagship stores
Subramaniam told businessline, “Our flagship stores would be of the size of 10,000 square feet, and what we establish in Bengaluru will serve as a model for other flagship stores. Our Bengaluru showroom will be operational by the end of CY22. The others are expected to come around by the first two-quarters of CY23.”
“In general, we have been extremely measured with where and how to deploy our capital, and that has helped us to scale better in general compared to the other EV firms,” says Niraj Rajmohan, co-founder and CTO of Ultraviolette.
Since the e-motor bike market is relatively smaller, the company is in direct competition with internal combustion engine motorcycles in the range of 300-600 CC, stated Rajmohan. “So, we consider all the bikes under the ICE as our direct competition,” he added.
Ultraviolette F77
Ultraviolette’s first bike, which is an F77, will come in three variants. It is powered by a 10.5-kilowatt-hour battery and is geared to cover a distance of 300 km on a single charge. The F77 will be available starting on November 24, 2022, and pre-booking in India starts on October 23, 2022.
The company says it has received over 70,000 pre-launch booking inquiries for the F77 so far from 190 different countries.
Rajmohan said, “We have been able to develop organic demand as there have been no marketing initiatives done on our behalf.” In 2019, the announced price for the motorcycle was in the range of ₹3–3.5 lakh. The price of the product will be announced on November 24.
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