'The delay is high in India, and even higher in the case of electric vehicles.'
Luxury carmakers are shifting into high gear with a mix of product launches, personalised experiences and lifestyle-led engagement.
Firodia talked about his plans for the EV-components business, and the components business at large for the group
In March 2021, Ola Electric founder Bhavish Aggarwal was seen surveying an empty 500-acre land surrounded by shoe factories, temples, bakery shops, coconut trees and dusty roads in Pochampalli town of Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu. Many excavators and workers were busy at the construction site to build the Ola Futurefactory for electric vehicles.
Leading automakers Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Mahindra, and Tata Motors saw a dip in dispatches to dealers in August amid dip in demand with many prospective buyers postponing their buys anticipating a reduction in vehicle prices on account of the new GST framework. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India reported an 8 per cent year-on-year dip in dispatches of passenger vehicles in the domestic market last month.
The country's legacy two-wheeler giants - Bajaj Auto and TVS - are fighting a neck-and-neck battle for market share, with the former threatening to dislodging its rival soon. The Pune-based giant, which was trailing far behind TVS just two months ago in e-two-wheelers (e2Ws), has upped the ante. It has increased its market share based on Vahan registrations from 11.6 per cent in June (when it sold only 9,046 electric two wheelers) to 19.3 per cent (when it sold 14,977 this month till August 30).
India's incumbent two-wheeler players, led by TVS Motors, are flexing their muscles, having crossed the registration of 10,000 electric two-wheelers for the first time in November this year, according to data from Vahan, the website of the ministry of road transport and highways. The two key incumbent players, TVS Motors and Bajaj Auto, now account for around 15 per cent share of registrations in the month of November. The number will only go up with Hero MotoCorp now joining the bandwagon with its Vida range of electric scooters.
Led by Ola Electric, which registered an industry record of 53,186 vehicles in March, electric two-wheeler (e2W) penetration hit a record at 8.91 per cent - the highest ever for a month (based on Vahan data).
Ola Electric will miss its target to fully utilise installed production capacity in next six to eight months and will achieve only 50 per cent of it by November 2023, founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said on Friday. At the time of launch of the new S1 Air electric scooter ahead of Diwali last month, he had said the company was already producing more than 1,000 a day at its 'future factory' and would be scaling it up significantly beyond that.
The 17 rare earth elements that are at the centre of the current crisis are critical components of everyday products -- from cars to jet engines to electronics like smartphones and flat-screen TVs.
As much as 35 per cent to 40 per cent of all vehicles sold in the country across segments will be electric by 2030, up from a mere 2 per cent this year, says a Bain & Co report released today. This translates to 14-16 million new electric vehicles (EVs) selling in a year. The inflexion point, which is now being seen month on month in many segments (such as two-wheelers which hit around 4-5 per cent in December), will be more than visible in 2026, when 4-5 million EVs across segments are expected to be sold, accounting for 15-20 per cent of the total sales, says the report.
Kinetic on Wednesday relaunched the iconic two-wheeler Luna in an electric avatar, addressing the demand for affordable electric vehicles (EVs), more than two decades after its initial introduction. e-Luna will be available at an introductory ex-showroom price of Rs 69,990, as announced by Sulajja Firodia Motwani, founder and chief executive officer of Kinetic Green, after Union Road Minister Nitin Gadkari launched the vehicle. Motwani pointed out that the current top 10 electric two-wheelers in the country are priced between Rs 1.05 lakh and Rs 1.49 lakh, making them a "luxury" that is not "practical and accessible" for most people in India.
The government has taken a slew of steps to boost the sales of electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers under its Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS) 2024, which includes allowing manufacturers to upload claims twice a month and gives them a 120-day window to submit it. The Rs 500-crore scheme -- which had replaced the flagship Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme-- comes to an end on July 31st.
The two-wheeler sector has been underperforming its peers on the volumes front for over five quarters now. Even in the March quarter, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp posted a 17-24 per cent YoY decline in volumes, the sharpest in the listed auto universe. The ongoing impact of frequent price hikes, all-time high fuel prices, and muted rural sentiment has led to the lacklustre showing by two-wheeler makers. What has aggravated the situation for two-wheeler companies, which get almost all their sales from the internal combustion engine or ICE-based units, is the traction for electric two-wheelers (EV).
Based on discussions with stakeholders, the ministry is proposing to allocate Rs 26,400 crore for FAME-III subsidy alone with electric two wheelers getting around Rs 8,158 crore, electric buses Rs 9,600 crore and electric three-wheelers Rs 4,100 crore, according to sources in the know. Along with some other components like setting up an innovation fund and money for testing , the total allocation could cross Rs 33,000 crore, estimates suggest.
In the e2W category, which accounts for more than 60 per cent of total EV sales, volumes fell 15 per cent to 118,944 units in November, compared to 139,787 units in the previous month
Irdai has proposed to increase the Motor Third Party premium rates for cars below 1000 cc to Rs 2,120 from the existing Rs 1,850 for the fiscal 2019-20.
With sentiment for the automotive (auto) sector turning positive, stocks of two-wheeler auto majors have been hitting their 52-week highs. Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor Company, and Eicher Motors recently reached their yearly highs on strong sales in the festival season and the expectation of faster growth rates ahead. Since the start of this month, listed two-wheeler majors have delivered returns in the 12-17 per cent range, compared to the 7 per cent gains for the S&P BSE Auto Index and 3 per cent for the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.
Given the stronger rural activity, and potential goods and services tax (GST) impact, investors are bullish on the two-wheeler (2W) segment. In August, dealers in the domestic market picked up 11 per cent more 2Ws year-on-year (Y-o-Y), despite only 2 per cent growth in retail registrations. This indicates inventory stocking ahead of the festival season. Export trends were good. TVS Motor and Royal Enfield may have gained domestic market share.
Ola Electric on Monday said it will foray into the electric car segment with plans to launch its first model by 2024. The company, which struggled with deliveries for its electric scooters after it announced entry into the segment exactly a year ago, has set an ambitious target of selling 10 lakh electric cars by 2026-2027. In a press conference, Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said Ola Electric aims to provide a range of electric two-wheelers to electric cars which are priced in the range of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.
A large crowd of devotees came to visit the temple, which is atop the Shivalik Hills at an elevation of over 500 feet, and a rumour about an electricity current leak triggered panic among them that led to pushing and shoving.
Can Bhavish Aggarwal upend the electric two-wheeler market, which is now overwhelmingly in favour of scooters?
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), India's second-largest two-wheeler maker, on Wednesday revealed its electric vehicle (EV) roadmap, which includes setting up a dedicated EV factory, launching the first two EVs in 2023-24, and establishing 6,000 battery exchange points in the country. HMSI plans to establish a specialised unit for the manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs), named 'Factory E', at its Narsapura plant located in Karnataka. Factory E will be created by converting an existing production line that currently manufactures internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, said Atsushi Ogata, HMSI managing director and chief executive officer.
Upon completion, the factory will create almost 10,000 jobs and will initially have an annual capacity of 2 million units.
State governments need to focus on building charging infrastructure to realise the goal of transitioning a large proportion of their sales to EVs, reports Ishaan Gera.
From powering mobile devices, US chip designer Qualcomm has tied up with Ola Electric to power its electric scooters. Qualcomm is providing the key 4G connected octa core android platform which provides connectivity, computing capabilities and enables rich immersive displays with power saving software.
The two-wheeler segment is, however, still far from its H1FY19 peak of 9.7 million units
SG Corporate Mobility - the parent company of the Indian two-wheeler brand LML - has taken auto major Bajaj Auto to high court, claiming that it was illegally using its 'Freedom' trademark in newly-launched Bajaj Freedom CNG motorbikes, the company said in a statement on Thursday. SG Corporate Mobility claims that the term 'Freedom' has a deep-rooted association dating back to 2002 when the company had introduced its 'LML Freedom' motorcycle. The trademark 'Freedom,' along with the 'LML' brand, was officially assigned to SG Corporate Mobility in 2021 after being transferred by LML.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) said on Thursday its operations are unaffected by the global rare earth magnet shortage, but added that the situation is "uncertain and evolving". The firm said it is exploring multiple solutions to maintain continuity in operations and will notify stakeholders in case of material impact.
Hero MotoCorp Ltd (HMCL) has been the best-performing auto stock over the last three months, gaining over 17 per cent during this period. Multiple tailwinds, especially on the rural front, are expected to boost its volumes. In addition to the demand drivers, new launches too should help drive growth both in the commuter and premium motorcycle categories.
'Today, we have 2 million active drivers earning through our platform every month.'
Amazon's latest Prime Day sale event broke records with over 18,000 orders per minute - a 50 per cent jump from 2024. Nearly 70 per cent of new memberships came from Tier-III cities.
Hero MotoCorp anticipates a big rebound in two-wheeler (2W) sales in rural India over the next four to eight quarters, driven by favourable factors such as a decent monsoon, rising crop prices, improved employment conditions, and increasing consumer confidence, its chief executive officer (CEO) Niranjan Gupta said on Wednesday. Amid tepid rural sales, he stated that there is a "strong case" for GST (goods and services tax) on entry-level two-wheelers, which are under 125 CC, to be moved down from 28 per cent to 18 per cent as they are used by "masses".
Overall automobile retail sales in India grew a modest 2.95 per cent in April this year to 22,87,952 units with completion of purchases by customers around Chaitra Navratri, Akshay Tritiya, Bengali New Year, Baisakhi and Vishu helping April end on a positive note, Federation of Automotive Dealers Associations said on Monday.
New Delhi's timing couldn't have been worse, both for India's fledgling electric vehicle (EV) sector and prospective electric bike buyers. It was hard to miss the perfect storm brewing for India's EV industry since early 2022. On one hand, you had several accidents involving battery fires that unnerved consumers; on the other, uncertainty had crept in over subsidies.
The government-appointed expert committee, which probes incidents of Ola Electric's S1 Pro and Okinawa vehicles catching fires, has added the latest case of fire involving PureEV electric scooter to its investigation, a senior government official told Business Standard. "A team comprising experts from Indian Institute of Science (IISC) and Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES) are investigating the cases. "As soon as the report is submitted, we shall take appropriate action," said Giridhar Aramane, secretary at the ministry of road transport and highways.
Automobile retail sales in India rose 6 per cent to 2,61,43,943 units in FY25 with rural areas performing better than urban regions across passenger vehicle and two-wheeler segments, dealers' body FADA said on Monday. The last financial year saw growth in sales of passenger vehicles, two-wheelers and three-wheelers.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd, the Indian arm of South Korean automaker Hyundai, has received capital markets regulator Sebi's approval to float an initial public offering (IPO), people familiar with the development said on Wednesday. This development marks a significant milestone for the Indian industry, as it is the first automaker initial share-sale in over two decades, following Japanese automaker Maruti Suzuki's listing in 2003.
Overall, volume growth is likely to be in the range of 3-8 per cent for two-wheelers and 5-7 per cent for passenger vehicles owing to healthy demand from urban and rural areas and pending order books.
Hero MotoCorp is expecting its electric vehicle (EV) business to break even once it reaches monthly sales volumes of 25,000 to 30,000 units, which is a couple of years away, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Vivek Anand said on Tuesday. "This year, in 2024-25 (FY25), if I really look at my EV performance, our volumes have grown by 200 per cent," Anand told analysts during the company's post-results conference call.
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