Mahindra Reva wants buyers to rent the e2o, then buy it

Mumbai: Selling an unconventional product in a conventional manner may not be work if you want it to succeed. And this mismatch could be, atleast partly, responsible for the Mahindra Reva’s e2o lacklustre sales thus far. As we reported in our 1 August, 2013 issue, the company is now trying out a new way – rent the car to potential users to enable them to experience the benefits of an electric vehicle.

Mahindra Reva has tied up with rental agencies Carzonrent and Zoom to rent out the cars for up to a couple of days. In the first phase, five cars each in Bangalore and Delhi are part of the new initiative.

After Bangalore, Mumbai is next. “A 15-minute test drive may not be enough but renting out the vehicle to allowing people ‘on the fence’ may convince them, ” explains Chetan Maini, CEO, Mahindra Reva.

The e2o is available for a rental fee of Rs 100 per hour with a minimum billing of Rs 200 in Bangalore. Mahindra Reva will also open a new ‘experience centre’ in Bangalore next month to create and promote the awareness of the benefits of electric vehicles such as the e2o.

Maini and his team are also planning another move to make the e2o more affordable. Currently, the car’s price tag of over Rs 600,000 is clearly a deterrent to customers. Mahindra Reva hopes to finalise a specially designed finance plan which may allow customers to take the battery pack separately on lease and pay in instalments. The new moves could help Mahindra e2o, which has sold only around 500 units since its launch in March 2013 to find more takers and further develop a market for electric vehicles in India.