Reasons for Re Launching Electric Car †Reva

Reasons for Re Launching Electric automobile Reva Introduction The Reva Electric Car Company (RECC) was founded in 1994 by Chetan Maini, as a joint venture between the Maini Group of Bangalore and Amerigon Electric Vehicle Technologies (AEVT Inc. ) of the USA. The companys sole aim was to develop and produce an affordable thick-skulled electric cable simple machine. Several other automakers were also aiming to do so, but in 2001 RECC launched theREVA Reva, started off with a bang The commencement exercise electric car in Indiaand the people behind the car were confident of the success of the car.Plans were set and the forecasting team estimated that 1500 cars would be sold by the end of the original year. Three years by and by its launch,Reva barely managed to sell a total of 300 cars. Reva was subsequently pulled off Indian markets. On May 26th 2010, Mahindra Group bought a 55. 2% volume stake in Reva and now has plans of relaunching the car in Indian markets. This arti cle explores reasons for the failure of Reva and what should be Mahindra Revas Strategy for achieving success in the Indian market. * Reva waspositionedas a Green,low operating cost car.The marketing strategy when Reva was first launched mainly concentrated on the car being green and the first of its type in the electric car segment. But this was not enough to bring into being ripples amongst the consumers. * With a smallsize, easy to drive (no clutch or gear)and checkspeed, Revawas targeted atsmall families, old couples and female drivers. While Reva had a beneficial cost proposition of only Rs. 0. 40 paise per km travelled, it was not a squalid car. Priced at slightly Rs. 3. 75 lakhs, people would have preferred to purchase a Maruti Zen or an Alto which are within the same impairment range.The major problem with Reva was that it was perceived to be a low cost car, but it was actually not. also it was not a car that the rich wanted to buy, as it looked below their league. In one word, Reva, was atotal misfit. * Aesthetically, Reva did not appeal to the youth. It wasnot fast, did not have ahigh range, had high criminal maintenance problems(100 % charging needed 8 hours) and was not meant for long drives. The small car space and the heading made it look like a ratheruncomfortable car. citizenry do advocate being green but they are not willing to sacrifice their comfort for it. * The arketing campaign for Reva also was not an aggressive one. The car made news for itself for being the first electric car in the Indian market but no marketing effort was made to create ripples in the customers. The buzz through promotions and advertisements was very low. There wasno excitementandcuriositycreated in the minds of the consumers before the product launch. A research done by me amongst 50 female drivers, 35 elderly people (50+ age) and 20 couples has helped me come up with the followingcustomer value hierarchyfor a Car 1. mall benefitTakes you from one place to another without aninconvenience. . Basic productEasy to drive,comfortable seats and leg room,high mileage. 3. Expected ProductSafety, does not run away down,easy to repair. 4. Augmented ProductSpeed,smooth on road,Stylish. 5. Potential ProductEnvironment friendly. As seen the pointsbolded in red fontare the ones that Reva clearly misses. non being able to satisfy the core, basic and anticipate product benefits has been a major miss in the marketing strategy of Reva. If Reva has to be successful it has to first cater to these customer benefits, satisfy them and then only will being environment friendly be a product differentiator.Reva had expected to sell around 1500 cars in its first year itself. After 3 years, Reva managed to sell only about350 odd cars. This is a definite failure in the first innings of Reva. However the event that it is the only one in the electric car market, a proper marketing strategy can help it become a success. Revas entropy Innings A Re-launch Strate gy It is not like Green cars are boring and cannot be successful. Take the example ofRoadster Teslaan electric car which is the coolest and one of the or so aspired cars in the automobile market. So surely there is no reason for Reva to fail if it is marketed in the right way.If the car is able to satisfy the core, basic and expected benefits of its target audience then we have a winner on our hands. In todays, Global warming era. Being green is in circumstance the in thing. But just Green Cannot Sell. Reva should market itself on its other facets as well. Consider the slogan below for marketing Reva Reva Easy to drive, Stylish, Comfortable Car By the way, we are also Green The easy to drive attribute is already present in Reva. Reva needs to do slight alterations in its design to make it look more stylish, ergonomically designed for seating and safety needs.As given in the figure above, Reva should look at targeting the growing female car owners. Also it should target the young a nd old couples, who find thecuteness factorin the car, exciting enough to purchase it. Reva should be promoted as aFun car to hang out with. Promotions The Reva advertisementsshould not hire any stars to advertise it. Instead it should look at taking the common locating going man, the misfire side by side(p) door, the college couple to brand it. This will ensure that its target audience connect to the advertisement and Reva to a greater extent.The greenness in Reva can be subtly highlighted in the advertisements. The promotion ideas for both print and television advertisements are 1. The office goerHow because of heavy traffic he used to reach late to office and get reprimanded by his boss. How now Reva has made him reach office in meter and get promotions. Catch line Traffic problems. No Problem. Reva is here 2. The girl next door How Reva has made her independent. play up the ease and comfort of driving the car in the advertisement. Catch line Get Independent. Do The Reva 3.Th e lovebirds A dowry by part ad series in which an old couple get nostalgic on how they started their love story in a Reva and their memories associated with the Reva car. Highlight the comfort of the Reva car. Catch line Reva getting you closer Social media promotions Low cost and high effect. 1. Social gaming applicationsin which users play a car racing game and get green credits for using the Reva Car. This will help spread the Reva brand virally. 2. Get expert reviews on the Reva car and cut them on theReva Blog. 3. Have a contest in which users can upload their Reva moment onYouTube.Also upload YouTube videos to show how Reva makes a greener world. 4. Have, The Spacious Reva Contest Customers move to fit in as many of their friends in a Reva car and upload a picture of it onFacebook. The one with maximum likes would win the contest. 5. beware to what your customers are sayingabout Reva, how are they feeling about Reva? Have you managed to create the right buzz? Social media would tell you instantly and help you to do any kind of damage control if necessary. Thesocial media is a good measureon how well your marketing strategy has worked.In conclusion , Reva has already in its First Innings, highlighted its attribute of being aGreen Car. The Second Innings strategy that has been mentioned will market Reva as an easy to drive, safe, stylish and comfortable car. Thus whole the core, basic and expected needs of its customers which will help the Reva car become a success story. While the Mahindra brand name and its distribution network and capabilities in the Indian market should definitely benefit Reva, in having a successful second innings. The strategy outlined above should help Reva preventing burns and scars the second time round.