Ather resumes operations in Chennai, Bengaluru

●      Ather experience centres now open in Bengaluru and Chennai

●      Experience centres will run for limited hours with limited staff

●      Ather's Bengaluru R&D centre has also reopened

Ather Energy has restarted its operations in Chennai, a week after it resumed operations in Bengaluru. The company has stated that all possible precautions will be undertaken at its Ather Space experience centres. This includes sanitisation of the workspace, social distancing, and the use of masks, gloves and personal sanitisers. The numbers of employees and customers in the area will be restricted and the centres will be open for limited hours.

This move comes after the government in both cities announced a relaxation for two-wheeler and four-wheeler showrooms, service centres and firms dealing in automobile spare parts.

Ather's R&D centre in Bengaluru has also opened but as the experience centres, the number of employees will be restricted. Deliveries of the Ather 450 have begun in these cities but in a limited capacity and will scale up depending on the resumption of operations of other ancillary partners, and permissions for interstate transport of vehicles.

Ravneet Phokela, chief business officer, Ather Energy said, “We are slowly opening up our retail stores and offices and are hoping that some semblance of normalcy will be achieved in the coming months. We have a lot of work ahead of us to expand pan-India over the coming months, and thankfully, the lockdown has not affected those timelines dramatically. We are now working on a slightly revised timeline of Q4 of 2020 to begin deliveries of the Ather 450X across India.”

Ather says it will continue to innovate on the ownership experience with ideas like increasing the financing options to consumers and introducing batteries on subscription. These new initiatives will be aimed at addressing the economic impact of the lockdown. This year, the brand will reach eight more cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata) with its flagship model, the Ather 450X.