Key Highlights:
- Ola CEO shares to his microblogging site advising EV companies
- Bhavish urged EV companies to invest more on tech
- Investing on tech would lower the prices of products
- Producing cute “Ads” requires a lot of expenditure
- Bhavish’s comments contradicts Kamath’s opinion
Over the past week, Elon Musk’s platform X (formerly Twitter) has become a hub for discussions on India’s electric two-wheeler sector. Recently, Nikhil Kamath, CEO of Zerodha Brokers Ltd, invested INR 250 crore in Ather Energy and praised the Bangalore-based startup for its excellent products.
However, he criticized its marketing strategy, suggesting that better marketing could have significantly boosted its sales. In contrast, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal posted on X (formerly Twitter) that his company prefers to save on marketing and advertisement costs, instead investing in technology and keeping prices low to attract a larger consumer base for maintaining a competitive edge.
Bhavish advised the EV companies to save money on ‘cute’ ads and rather invest in supply chains to boost sales. He added, I noticed some EV companies are more into producing cute ads in order to increase their stagnant sales. Investing in technology and supply chains would reduce product costs.
Furthermore he quoted “Pro tip for them: Electric vehicles is a supply chain and manufacturing business. Save the marketing and sales ₹ ₹ and invest it into supply chains and tech to lower your product costs”.
Bhavish’s comments contradict those of Zerodha CEO Nikhil Kamath, causing a divide among consumers about who is correct. Despite differing viewpoints, both ideologies impact the Indian E2W segment sharing a similar aim to boost sales figures.
However, Kamath also backed his opinions mentioning that “For me choosing a product with terrible marketing just works fine though a poor marketing does affect the sales figure, so whether we like it or not it is a need of the hour”.
According to reports, Ola Electric leads the market with a 42.3 percent share. Other significant players are TVS Motor Co with 17.5 percent, Bajaj Auto with 15.2 percent and Ather Energy with 10.4 percent.
Despite this, the electric two-wheeler market in India has experienced low volumes over the past three months. Registrations for high-speed electric two-wheeler dropped by 27 percent in May compared to the high base of the previous year.
The Verdict:
Ola CEO Bhavish Agarwal’s views might differ from those of Nikhil Kamath, but both perspectives are crucial for the EV industry. Effective marketing boosts a model’s popularity, while affordable pricing attracts more consumers. Both aspects are equally important. The key to achieving both is strategic investment in marketing and R&D. Rather than relying heavily on foreign technology, localizing it can help keep product prices in check. This is the approach we believe should be taken.