India’s first electric car, Reva, is planning new marketing strategies to push its sales further. It plans to partner major electronic retail chains to sell its car at their showrooms. Reva is opting for unconventional and non-traditional routes to promote its eco-friendly car in India.

Owing to the rising petrol prices, the car has witnessed a surge in its sales since past 10 months. It has already sold 300 units in India by October 2008 as compared to its overall sales of 160 units in the last fiscal year. It expects to reach a target of 750 cars by the end of the year.

It now plans to sell its cars at exclusive showrooms that sell electronic products and electric cars. “The issue which keeps coming up is how do I feed my distribution channels if the sales are down,” says Mr. Chandramauli, who earlier worked with TVS Motors. He also stated that conventional modes of marketing usually do not work with models like Reva and a partnership with electronic retail chains, selling electronic products and electric cars, will act as “plug and play” model.

The on-road price of the car is around Rs .3.5 lakh to Rs. 4 lakh. It is also in talks with some of the auto finance companies so that the customer can drive away with as less as Rs. 1 lakh and the rest would be financed by the auto companies. The company is also working on newer models which have lighter batteries and can carry more passengers.