India's Reva Expands Electric Vehicle Sales Effort Into European Market

Anticipating a big boost in electric vehicle sales in Europe, Indian EV maker Reva has expanded sales and distribution of its low-speed city cars into continental Europe after selling more than 1,000 in London under the "G-Wiz" brand name over the past few years.

Reva's electric car, originally launched in India, is now on sale in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Spain, Cyprus, Greece and Norway.

The Bangalore-based EV maker said it is looking for distributors for other European countries as well.

"With certain industry predictions forecasting that electric cars will constitute 20% to 25% of all new car sales by 2020, we hope to build on our early success as a technology innovator and succeed in this exciting new segment," Keith Johnston, president of the company's new European division, said in a statement late last week.

"We are serious about establishing Reva as a global electric car brand."

The company says its aim is to launch one new electric car model each year and, working through distributors, develop a range of sales and aftermarket operations tailored to each country.

Because of their small size, lightweight and low-speed performance, electric vehicles sold by REVA are classed as quadricycles and do not have to conform to the same safety standards as cars.

European auto market analysts at Global Insight suggest that the classification will limit the vehicles' appeal, and usefulness, to highly congested urban areas and said they expect the vehicles to remain niche products with sales in the hundreds per year in major cities, as has been the case in London.

The more the merrier, we say, even if its only a little more.  Increased exposure, even to small EVs - if they work well enough to move people around town reliably - can only help the industry as a whole.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor

Posted by

John O'Dell October 14, 2008, 3:02 AM

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Fuels & Technologies, India, Plug-ins and Electric, Reva

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City Cars, Electric Vehicles, EV, REVA Expands into Europe

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