Bengaluru-based electric motorcycle startup Ultraviolette Automotive is looking for quick scale with expansion of its product portfolio and retail presence. The company is targeting volumes in the range of 10,000 to 12,000 units during the current financial year with two products and retail presence in close to 100 cities.
“Overall, I would say we are targeting 10,000 units to 12,000 units in this financial year across mostly X47 and F77 models,” Ultraviolette co-founder Niraj Rajmohan told Autocar Professional.
The TVS-backed brand was seen as a niche player known for its high-performance F77 electric motorcycle, which is priced above Rs 3 lakh and targeted a small segment of performance enthusiasts in India and some European markets. Its volume was close to 600 units in the previous financial year.
However, with the launch of its new model – X47 Crossover – at Rs 2.74 lakh on Tuesday, Ultraviolette has expanded its addressable market to more daily riders. X47 is now the most affordable model in its lineup. Delivery of X47 will start from next month, with bookings open from today.
On the retail front, he noted that the company has expanded from one city last year to 30 cities right now and targets 50 cities by the end of this calendar year and 100 cities by March end.
Earlier this year, Ultraviolette announced its entry into the affordable scooter space with Tesseract at a starting price of Rs 1.45 lakh and light electric motorcycle space with Shockwave at a starting price of Rs 1.75 lakh.
Though bookings for these two vehicles opened in March, the deliveries are yet to begin. Co-founder Narayan Subramaniam said the deliveries of Tesseract and Shockwave will start only next year.
Ultraviolette has been piloting its first motorcycle F77 in European cities and expected to scale up its volumes there from next financial year. Next year, the automaker will also start the pilot of its models in Latin American and Southeast Asian countries.
“For us, the next two big international markets after Europe will be Latin America and Southeast Asia. Next year is when we start scaling up in Europe, while we will do pilots in Southeast Asia and Latin America,” Rajmohan said.
Ultraviolette is eyeing a portfolio of 14 products over a period of 36 months on five platforms – F Series, S-Series, L Series, X Series and B Series – and targets to increase its annual sales to at least 1 lakh units over the next three to four years.
The first scooter Tesseract will come under the S Series, which is for scooters, while the light motorcycle Shockwave, an adventure street model, will be under the L series, which is for lightweight motorcycles. The X and B series are likely to have crossover or cruiser models.
Subramaniam said unit-wise the company is already making profit on a per unit basis, while the company expects to achieve EBITDA breakeven in 2-3 years.
Ultraviolette has said it will invest $70-$100 million (Rs 600-870 crore) over the next couple of years as the company looks to expand its product portfolio with a diverse range of scooters and motorcycles and ramp up its capacity and sales.
Currently, the company’s pilot plant near Electronic City in Bengaluru has a manufacturing capacity of 30,000 units per annum.