New Delhi: Young, aspiring Indians are increasingly taking to premium electric vehicles, with substantial sales to first-time buyers. This marks a rare bright spot for the domestic auto industry where mainstream EV makers are scaling back sales targets amid sluggish demand.
Around 1,100 EVs were sold in the luxury segment in the March quarter, a 61per cent rise YoY, showed data collated by the Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Associations (FADA).
Electric car sales in the mass market, in comparison, grew nearly 26per cent to 31,400 units, from 25,000 units in the same period.
German luxury brand BMW, which launched its sixth EV model in India earlier this year, said as much as half of the customers for the LWB E-X1-the long wheelbase version of its electric X1 SU-are first-time luxury car owners.
The carmarker said demand is now coming from beyond metros.
“It is not only the metros. We are seeing strong demand for EVs, even from Tier-II cities like Jaipur,” said Vikram Pawah, president, BMW Group India.
Unlike the ICE (internal combustion engine) segment led by Mercedes-Benz India, BMW leads the luxury EV segment with 60per cent market share, according to data from the VAHAN portal of the Ministry of Road, Transport & Highways.
At Sweden’s Volvo, first-time luxury car buyers comprise 30-40per cent of its EV sales in India.
“We have seen customers coming forward and buying our BEV (Battery Electric Vehicles) cars as their first luxury car. This trend will only grow with time,” noted Jyoti Malhotra, managing director at Volvo Cars India.
The average age of a BMW X1 LWB EV customer is 39 years, compared to 42 for the ICE version of the X1.
“An influx of startups, young entrepreneurs, and a boost in the economy is making this possible,” said Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head, Audi India.
At Mercedes-Benz India, while the age profile of EV and ICE customers is similar, managing director Santosh Iyer said, “The BEV customers form a different psychographic set; being more digitised, value sustainability and influenced by children at home.”
Till now, Mercedes-Benz India’s electric car customers mostly came from the metro markets of Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. Iyer, however, pointed out that the current “penetration of electric vehicles in some emerging markets like Kerala, Gujarat is encouraging”.
German rival Audi too is witnessing growing demand for EVs from smaller cities like Coimbatore and Chandigarh, in addition to the metros.
The outperformance in the luxury EV segment comes as an outlier in India’s overall EV market with most mainstream car sellers struggling to attract buyers.
