After a successful run in Bengaluru, Ather Energy officially began accepting pre-orders from consumers for its Ather 450 in Chennai. This is the second city the company is entering after its commercial launch in June 2018. Ather’s flagship scooter has seen great traction from owners and reviewers and has changed the market's expectation of two wheelers.
Last weekend, Ather offered early access test rides to its followers in Chennai and showcased the 450 prior to its official launch. The event was focused on the Ather community that the company has built and had fifty Bengaluru owners travel to Chennai to share their ownership journey. This pre-launch event saw resounding response and the Ather 450 has already sold out till November in Chennai. The company is now opening pre-orders for its second limited batch of deliveries.
Tarun Mehta, Co-founder & CEO, Ather Energy said, “After the successful launch in Bengaluru, we are excited to enter Chennai, where Ather was born. There is an incredible amount of excitement and awareness of electric vehicles in the city. This was evident in the pre-launch event when we sold out our first batch of deliveries before the official launch in Chennai. Two out of three consumers pre-ordered a vehicle, some even before taking a test ride. We now believe that Chennai will be a bigger market than Bengaluru for us. We have spent the past year scaling up to meet the demand for Bengaluru and have been building more features and improvements on the 450. We have been experimenting with new forms of ownership like lease and are excited to launch the same in Chennai.”
The on-road price of the Ather 450 is Rs 131,683 and Ather 340 will be priced at Rs 119,091 in Chennai. The price includes the regulation two helmets, along with the FAME 2 subsidy and other basics like insurance, road tax, GST, and other fees.
Ather had begun the installation of its Ather Grid points in Chennai in May 2019. Since then, Chennai has seen installation of ten fast charging points. These charging points can be found in malls like Forum Vijaya Mall, offices like AtWorks and cafes, restaurants, and even grocery stores. To encourage adoption of EVs in the city, Ather Energy will provide free charging at Ather Grid till December 2019 for all electric 4Ws & 2Ws and will add 40-50 more charging points to their network.
The company will be opening Ather Space, the experience centre at Wallace Garden, Nungambakkam on July 24. Consumers can test ride vehicles at Space and get an in-depth view of electric vehicles and their usage.
The company has announced free Ather One subscription for all the deliveries in 2019, starting with the September batch. The Ather One plan offers customers free access to: public and home charging; regular maintenance inclusive of consumables; breakdown assistance; and unlimited data services at only Rs 700 + GST monthly.
The company is increasing the production capacity of its manufacturing facility to ramp up deliveries in Bengaluru and Chennai. The waiting period for the vehicles has come down enabling faster deliveries to customers in the last month.