Greaves Cotton to Expand 2-Wheeler Electric Portfolio to Enhance its Market Share

As the company's Executive Vice Chairman of Greaves Cotton Ltd - Nagesh Basavanhalli said, the brand wants to introduce more electric two-wheelers in the future in both the mass and luxury segments as it seeks to increase its market share in the domestic market. At the current Auto Expo 2023, the company is displaying its new Ampere Primus high-speed B2C e-scooter along with 5 additional new product concepts, including Ampere NXG and Ampere NXU. In addition, the company plans to introduce electric scooters above and below the Rs 80,000 - Rs 1 lakh range where it sells its products currently.

Under the Ampere brand, Greaves Electric Mobility Pvt Ltd, a division of the firm, offers the electric two-wheeler models Magnus EX, Primus and Reo Plus.

According to Basavanhalli in an interview with PTI, the company's yearly sales were about Rs 18 crore when it began its electric adventure "a few years ago," and it reached a quarterly revenue of Rs 320 crore in the most recent quarter.

"So our growth has been based on incrementally adding values and demonstrating that value proposition. For example, Magnus, the brand name, has sold more than 1,00,000 vehicles in the electric vehicles market. So the product is well established. Now what we're doing is in addition to Magnus, we are bringing in a refreshed zeal," he said.

Basavanhalli further said, "We were playing in that sweet spot of Rs 85,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Now the goal is through our products, we will move a little bit left with one or two value products more a little bit right with the incremental new generation products, which brings an incremental or newer customer base to us. So now the pie is being expanded."

According to him, India's market for electric two-wheelers has been expanding. From around 2.5 lakh units yearly in the previous fiscal year, it is expected to reach about 7 lakh units this fiscal year and approximately 13 lakh units the following year.

We have a 13–14% market share, according to Basavanhalli, who added that the company's goal would be to maintain, increase, and expand its market share as the size of the market grows.

Greaves Cotton Group has worked to become a one-stop-shop, offering a complete ecosystem, including finance, after-sales support, and development of powertrain, motors, and controllers, to strengthen its position in the electric mobility market, he added.

When questioned about investments, he stated that the company had spent nearly half of its pledged capital of about Rs. 1,500 crores on various projects, such as introducing new products, expanding capacity, and establishing brands in addition to the three-year-old acquisition of Ampere Vehicles.

"So the near term visibility over the next two to three years, the money that we have allocated will be sufficient for some of those products," Basavanhalli added.

In terms of the company's production, he said, "We are ready to do a quarter million in one shift and half a million in two shifts. So I think in the near term, the capacity is more than sufficient."