New ventures: Reva scouts for partners

Electric carmaker, Reva, is scouting for partners to set up new manufacturing facilities in overseas markets such as the US, Australia and Europe.

"We are looking for partners in 4-5 countries to set up manufacturing facilities and especially in the US, Australia and Europe. We are in talks with some companies, but nothing has been finalised so far," Reva Electric Car Company Deputy Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Chetan Maini told reporters on the sidelines of a function on Monday.

The company plans to set up a new plant in Bangalore by mid-2010 and increase production capacity to 30,000 units in three years.

"The new plant with a capacity of 30,000 vehicles will be commissioned next year. The total investment is Rs 30 crore excluding land. We will invest more for the expansion of the plant once it becomes operational," Maini said.

The Bangalore-based company intends to augment its sales to 30,000 units in three-years from 1,000 units annually at present.

The company's current facility at Bangalore has an annual production capacity of 6,000 units per year.

The company will launch two models-- NXR from the family car platform in the second quarter of next year while a next-generation car-- NXG --will be rolled out in 2011.

"We will launch a new electric car model, NXR, next year. Our NXG will be rolled out by early-2011. We have not decided on phasing out or continuing the existing Reva model. We will take a decision at the right time," he said.

Reva has recently entered into an agreement with General Motors India for launching the electric version of the compact car, Spark.

"The pact with General Motors to electrify its Spark range for the Indian market is a big one. We start with the Spark platform," he said, adding "we are ready for other relationships in the future."

The company has invested $25-million in its R&D unit, he said.