The company is already gearing up to launch a ‘high speed’ electric scooter in the country, Dao 703, in mid-January 2022
China’s Dao EV Tech is reportedly planning to manufacture its EVs in India which it tends to export to regions like the US and Europe.
In an interaction with The Economic Times, Maneesh Singh, VP — strategic development, Dao EV Tech, said, “We’ll be shifting our exports from China after we begin manufacturing at a planned production facility in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh. We already have the market base available.”
During the pre-Covid year of 2019, the company exported 4 million units from China to the US and Europe, he said.
The company is already gearing up to lauch a ‘high speed’ electric scooter in the country, Dao 703, in mid-January 2022. With the sticker at INR 1.20 lakh, Dao 703 will cost INR 86,000 after the applicable subsidies, the company said.
Though Dao EV Tech had set up its first assembly facility in Zaheerabad, it has now moved to a plant in Chakan, near Pune, as it didn’t find a favourable ecosystem near its first plant, which is now used as a warehouse.
As the journey progresses, the company plans to set up another plant in Delhi-NCR, most likely in the industrial hub of Manesar. While the EV maker has lined up such plans as an OEM, under the larger game plan, the 3S operations could be a fourth of the company’s overall business. The rest of the revenue is expected to come from other businesses of 3PL services, shared mobility, and battery swapping, which will be under a subsidiary of Dao EV Tech.
The company has already gathered a batch of 20 dealers in South India, and plans include having a nationwide presence with 300 dealers after around a year and a half.
“The idea is to ensure that the entire supply chain – distribution, technology, consumer, after-sales and operations – grows well, and makes a viable and profitable business for dealers,” Singh told the publication.
“We have promised and committed that we’ll do at least two models every year,” he said. To gain consumer confidence in Dao EV Tech products, the company will offer free service for life.
In India, the company is influenced by Maruti Suzuki in terms of market reach. “Our concentration is to go to every Tier 3, Tier 4 level market,” Singh said, adding that it has appointed dealers in some of them.
