Himalayan News Service

Bangalore, January 8:

Reva, India’s first and only electric small car produced by the Bangalore-based Maini industrial group, is entering the Japanese market in a big way.In a bid to promote electrical automobiles, the Japanese government has agreed to provide a subsidy of $2,600 per Reva car, whose three models are being priced between $12,000 and $13,500.

Reva Electric Car Company deputy chairman Chetan Kumar Maini said that the car models were now being showcased at the Osaka Auto Show.

“The electric vehicles have created a lot of excitement among car enthusiasts. The subsidy will be given to customers directly by the Japanese government on purchase of Reva,” he said. The company has appointed Takeoka Autocraft Ltd as its distributor to market Reva models in select Japanese cities. Reva will be positioned in the small and mid-sized car segments and promoted as an ideal alternative environmental vehicle to the petrol passenger cars. The EU-certified zero pollution Reva would be availabe in three variations. “With city mobility being a key factor in countries like Japan, we hope to cater to the needs of this market as we have started doing in Britain and Malta,” Maini said.

The six-month long Osaka Auto Show is one of the largest automobile events held in western Japan. It attracts a variety of exhibitors ranging from domestic manufacturers to leading importers of top international cars. Apart from catering to the Indian market, the company exports the eco-friendly Reva to Britain and Malta through the London-based Going Green Plc, with which it has a marketing tie-up to sell 500 electric cars.

The company is also test marketing Reva models in the US, Switzerland and Norway.