Why BMW ups its bets on TVS Motor Partnership, and India
BMW Motorrad, the two-wheeler arm of the German luxury major BMW, targets big growth in its EV sales. Dr. Markus Schramm, Head of BMW Motorrad says the target is to double the share of EVs in his company's global sales this year.
Last year, out of BMW Motorrad's total sales of 200,000 units, 2.5% were EVs. The target this year is to gain 5% of sales.
TVS Motor's Hosur plant will be the sole production base for the low voltage EV. Dr.
Scramm says that TVS Motor will be the partner for EVs in the low voltage (below 11kW) BMW EVs. EVs of 11 kW and above will be made by BMW Motorrad as it derives the required technology from the BMW car division.
In 2024, BMW India will also bank on India to ramp up its presence in EVs. The TVS Motor-produced CE 02, an e-parkour, as BMW Motorrad calls it, will be launched in Europe around April.
It will be priced at EUR 8,500. The EV will be available with a 4kW battery pack, and will have a riding range of 90 km, and a top speed of 90km/h.
The CE 02 also marks the progression of the 10-year alliance between BMW Motorrad and TVS Motor. It's the first model to be co-designed and co-developed by the partners.
The first product, the 310 cc motorcycle, available in multiple variants, was designed by BMW Motorrad, and produced by TVS Motor.
Five motorcycle offerings have been introduced between the BMW and TVS brands, in the 310 platform. The 150,000th BMW (which has 3 of the 5 offerings) was rolled out on Friday. TVS, with the Apache 310 RR, has sold 25,000 units.
A second one, RTR 310, launched a month earlier is yet to go on sale.
Dr. Schramm revealed that sharing the 'RR' brand suffix with TVS Motor was a «personal experiment», as the Board wasn't in favour of it. The experiment seems to
