The country's first Electric car manufacturer, REVA Electric Car Company is all set to leverage its expertise in the segment and expand its product portfolio aggressively in the next year and a half. The company would begin its expansion by launching the REVA Sahara, a completely automatic car designed for the physically handicapped next month, Mr. Chetan Maini managing Director, said.

Mr. Maini who was in the city to inaugurate its first dealership in Pune, with Ugra Raj Enterprises, said controls of the car including the accelerator and the brakes would be provided on a manually operated console. The car currently undergoing final rounds of approvals at the Automotive Research association of India (ARAI), would be available at dealerships next month. The company is also simultaneously working on the launch of Electric mini buses for intra-city commuting.

Mr. Maini said the move was in response to proposals by public transport corporations of various states including Delhi and Karnataka. The buses which will be useful for corporations, schools and other institutions, would be available on roads six months from now, he said. While REVA is a compact city car for two adults and two children, Mr. Maini said the company was also working on the same platform to build larger vehicles and had already designed a convertible and a pick-up model, which could be possibly launched by May. Meanwhile, with pollution and traffic regulations becoming tighter across Europe, the REVA is all set to make its presence felt in these markets where it hopes to leverage the fact that it will be the cheapest car in its niche currently available.

Mr. Maini said batches of the car had been sent to UK, Nepal, China and Hong Kong, among other places. Tin the UK for instance, the company has tied up with Going Green, a company which specializes in green technology, according to Mr. Maini who pointed that Londoners would soon feel the pinch of heavy taxation if they drive their cars into central London.

Come February 2003 and car owners will pay a hefty five pound a day to take the vehicles into central London which is constantly reeling under the impact of countless number of traffic snarls. The authorities trying out stringent measures to solve the problem have now also imposed an 18 km / hr speed regulation as another was to resolve the crisis. "With droving and parking in these places a nightmare, people are increasingly looking for better alternatives to their large cars," Mr. Maini said adding the company hoped to sell over 5,50,000 cars across Europe in the next 10 years.

Meanwhile, the company which has sold over 3000 cars in the 18 months since launch, is now ramming up production at its facilities in Karnataka and hopes to sell bulk numbers beginning May this year by when it also plans to have completed its national roll-out of the REVA.

In Pune city the newly appointed Dealer, Mr. Dilip Nandkeolyar, said he hoped to convince its 11-lakh two - wheeler population to switch over to the car, which is both a safest, less polluting and cheaper mode of transport. Pune city's vehicle population is a whopping 14 lakhs of which two-wheelers alone comprise 11 lakhs.

With public transportation facilities woefully inadequate, citizens have no option but to go in for individual or private transportation vehicles.

The company was meanwhile, gearing up to expand its network in Maharashtra with dealerships in Kholapur, Sangli and Mumbai within the next four months, Mr. Maini said.

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