Bengaluru: As the high-performance electric motorcycle maker Ultraviolette Automotive is in its second year in the market, it plans to expand the retail presence outside of its home city and foray into new markets overseas.
Speaking to ETAuto, Narayan Subramaniam, CEO & Co-Founder, Ultraviolette said, “This year we will expand our retail presence to 20 more cities in India. We have started onboarding dealers in Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Kolkata, and Delhi.”
Currently, the EV maker has just one retail store in Bengaluru. The new stores will come up in two formats- Ultraviolette Space Station and Ultraviolette Space Pod, with the former being a larger store offering sales and service. The latter will be a touchpoint, smaller in size and offering test rides.
The expansion comes with the launch of its F77 Mach 2 on Wednesday, which is available at a more accessible introductory price of INR 2.99 lakh for first 1000 customers. The model offers a 323 km IDC range and comes with a 10.3 kWh battery pack. It delivers 30 kW (40.2 hp) with 100 Nm of peak torque, and accelerates from 0 to 60 km/hr in 2.8 seconds achieving a top speed of 155 km/hr.
The new electric motorcycle comes with 3-level Traction Control System, 10 levels of Regenerative Braking, Dynamic Stability Control, Hill Hold, and connectivity features including Anti-Collision Warning Systems, Fall and Towing Alerts, and the Delta Watch.
Early this year, ETAuto broke the news of the country’s second largest fuel retailer HPCL joining hands with Ultraviolette to set up EV charging networks.
Business Growth
The startup, founded in 2016, took about six years to introduce its flagship high-performance electric motorcycle F77 in India. With a factory in Jigani Industrial area, Bengaluru, the company’s maiden product was launched in November 2022 in two variants– Original and Recon. Recently, it also launched the Space Edition of the model.
Since its inception, Ultraviolette has raised over USD 55 million from investors including TVS Motor Company, Zoho Corporation, Qualcomm Ventures, and a Malayalam film star, Dulquer Salmaan.
This year, it aims to achieve cash flow breakeven by the second half, while continuing to invest in R&D and technology.
With the F77 Mach 2, Ultraviolette plans to sell 5000 units in the market this year. Last year, it sold 500 units with sales predominantly coming from Bengaluru.
Its next product in the lineup is the F99 which is expected to be introduced at the Bharat Mobility Show next year. “We will bring this in a race-spec variant first, followed by a commercial launch.”
The performance motorcycle segment– the category where Ultraviolette operates– sells about 1 lakh units in the country every month. Subramaniam says the customer base is in their mid 20s to late 30s and the competition is with established brands including Kawasaki, KTM, BMW, among others.
While the electric scooters have been taking the lead in the electric two wheeler space, the electric motorcycle segment in the country is occupied by a handful of startup brands, together clocking about 1000 units. This includes Revolt, Hop Electric, Tork Motors, Oben, Orxa. In the coming months, companies like Raptee, Matter, Komaki are expected to enter the space.
Meanwhile, Hero MotoCorp will develop electric motorcycles in partnership with US-based electric motorcycle maker Zero Motorcycles. Royal Enfield is also working on two electric motorcycle platforms– an in-house and another in collaboration with Spanish startup Stark Motorcycle.
International Play
Ultraviolette sees Europe as a “very high potential market” because of its motorcycling culture and the accelerating electrification trend in four wheelers.
“We see a whitespace in electric motorcycles, especially in southern Europe. We have already on-boarded some distributors. We will have one distributor per country. In the long term, we aim to have about a 60:40 ratio for domestic and exports,” Subramaniam said.
The company showcased the F77 at EICMA trade show in Italy last year, followed by its launch in Turkey in March this year. By the next quarter, it is aiming to begin deliveries in Turkey, Germany and Spain. It says the models are compliant to European regulations.
