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Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Conducts Road Safety Awareness Campaign in Haryana

Posted on by Rabindra
Pune(S.N): Ather Energy, India's first smart electric scooter manufacturer, has announced its partnership with IDFC bank to offer a first-in-the-industry EV financing option to its customers. Now, consumers have an easy option to upgrade and own a much smarter and faster Ather 450X scooter by incurring the same monthly expense as that of a conventional petrol scooter. This scheme is expected to make Ather scooters more accessible to customers by offering a lucrative financing option to customers and driving faster adoption of electric vehicles. The scheme also provides the flexibility to customers to purchase an Ather 450X or a 450 Plus with a down payment as low as 5% of the on-road price applicable in the respective city. However, for the first time in the E2W space, IDFC is offering all this at a 48-month loan tenure, making the EMIs extremely easy to afford. To add to this, customers will be able to get approval in 45 minutes and there is zero processing fee. Customers can exchange their old scooters or motorcycles at zero down payment*. Practically, at a lower cost, consumers can bring home a modern, performance-oriented scooter that is equipped with smart features like a touchscreen dashboard, onboard navigation, reverse assist, document storage, and theft and tow notifications. Ravneet S. Phokela, Chief Business Officer, Ather Energy, said, “We believe that attractive financing plans and new financial models around adoption will play a crucial role in bringing in the next phase of growth for the industry. The EV financing scheme introduced today in partnership with IDFC Bank is a significant step in many ways towards driving faster adoption of electric 2-wheelers in the country. The scheme offers a first-ever 48-month tenureship on Ather’s electric scooters. Now a customer buying a much superior Ather 450X with this scheme would have the same monthly expense as that of owning a 125cc scooter, making our scooters more accessible to a wider customer base across the country. This will enable us to further accelerate the strong demand we are witnessing, as we expand our retail footprint across the country.” “It is also crucial to note that Ather is the first OEM in the industry that has received a 48-month tenure for its scooters which reiterates the trust that our finance partners have in our vehicle. This is a reflection of their confidence in our product quality and reliability. as well as the resale value of the product,” added Ravneet IDFC First Bank was an early adopter of the EV market and has established itself as a bankable partner for Ather’s customers. This has become a critical cohort as the company is expanding into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Mr. Rishi Kant Mishra, Business Head, Vehicle Loans said "IDFC First Bank has been amongst the front runners in electric two-wheeler financing. Our ever-evolving offerings to match diverse customer segments and our end-to-end digitized customer journey will add tremendous value to Ather Energy's customer financing experience" Ather Energy has grown phenomenally in 2022, with a 202% Y-o-Y growth (April-October) in the number of active Ather scooters on-road. The company registered its highest-ever monthly sales by delivering 8,213 units in October 2022. The company anticipates sustained growth in demand and is investing heavily in building a favorable EV ecosystem in the country. Ather has installed 600+ fast-charging stations across 55+ cities in India, to alleviate range and charging anxiety and plans to install 1400 Ather Grids by the end of FY23. The company plans to expand its retail presence to 150 outlets in 100+ cities by March 2023.

Kurukshetra, 19 November 2022: Re-emphasizing the need for road safety awareness among the people to build a collision-free India, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India’s (HMSI) National Road Safety Awareness Campaign reaches Kurukshetra in Haryana.

The three-day camp (14 – 16 November 2022) at B.R. International Public School witnessed spirited participation from over 2000 school students and staff members who set out to imbibe safe riding practices. HMSI’s road safety instructors utilized age-appropriate road safety learning programs to enhance the retention of road safety awareness among all.

Speaking on HMSI’s commitment towards sensitizing India on road safety, Mr. Prabhu Nagaraj, Operating Officer – Brand & Communication, Honda Motorcycle, and Scooter India said, “The National Road Safety campaign by HMSI intends to cover all walks of life. As part of this campaign, we conducted the awareness program at Kurukshetra focusing on school students and staff members of the school in a 3-day camp. The Right knowledge on Road safety at a young age will not only help in developing a responsible road user but also an effective ambassador of Road Safety.”

HMSI’s National Road Safety Awareness program made learning fun yet scientific through:

  1.  INTERACTIVE SESSION: HMSI’s specially trained road safety instructors educated 5 to 10 years old about the do’s and don’ts while commuting in a school bus and cycling.
  2.  PRACTICAL LEARNING: 11 – 12 years old learned how to ride their bicycle safely, their duties as a pillion on a two-wheeler, and the importance of safety gear on roads. To make this learning more practical and fun, kids got hands-on learning experience on the specially imported CRF50 motorcycles.
  3.  SCIENTIFIC THEORY LEARNING MODULE: Safety riding theory session on road rules & regulations, road signs & markings, driver’s duties on the road, riding gear & posture explanation, and safe riding etiquette was conducted for 13 to 17 years old as well as for staff.
  4.  EXISTING DRIVERS HONING RIDING SKILLS: School staff members who are already existing riders tested and honed their learnings through theoretical as well as practical training on a two-wheeler.
  5.  LEARNING WITH FUN: To ensure that the young students could learn more about road safety, HMSI also conducted fun educational activities like road safety games and quizzes on daily basis.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India’s CSR commitment towards Road Safety:

For Honda globally, road safety comes first. As announced in April 2021, “Honda will strive for zero traffic collision fatalities involving Honda motorcycles and automobiles globally by 2050”. Fulfilling its corporate social responsibility (CSR), HMSI has been promoting road safety in India since its start in 2001. Working towards the realization of Honda’s global safety vision, today HMSI’s road safety awareness initiative has already spread to over 50 lac Indians. Its team of skilled safety instructors conducts daily programs at its 10 adopted traffic parks across India and 7 Safety Driving Education Centers (SDEC).

Not only this, all 1000+ dealerships of HMSI across India spread road safety awareness. HMSI’s proprietary virtual riding simulator increases the risk-prediction ability of riders; while new customers to are given predelivery safety advice (PDSA) before they start riding at every dealership across India.

Additionally, to ensure that learning doesn’t stop in the New Normal, HMSI started the digital road safety education initiative – Honda Road Safety E-Gurukul. Since its start in May’20, this initiative has sensitized 8 Lac+ Indians on the importance of being aware & responsible road users.

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