TVS Motor, BMW Motorrad expand partnership to develop electric vehicles

TVS Motor Company on Wednesday announced the expansion of its long-term cooperative partnership with BMW Motorrad India to develop electric vehicles (EVs) and future technologies in the country. The first product jointly developed by both the companies will be showcased to the world in the next two years.

Both the companies will jointly develop new platforms and make their exclusive products on these common platforms. These products will be sold globally. Under the partnership, TVS will be responsible for designing and developing future BMW Motorrad products as well as look after supply chain management, and industrialisation. The Chennai-based company will continue to look after engineering prowess in design and manufacturing as well as provide best-in-class quality to the products.

Both BMW Motorrad and TVS will mutually tap the emerging technologies in the future mobility space while tracking the global requirements of customer segments. "The new world of future mobility encompasses a strong play through alternate solutions, including electric mobility. Expanding this successful partnership to EVs and other newer platforms will create opportunities to deliver advanced technology and aspirational products to global markets," said Sudarshan Venu, Joint Managing Director, TVS Motor Company.

The two-wheeler companies had first signed their long-term strategic partnership in April 2013 to manufacture sub-500cc motorcycles for the global markets. Under this collaboration, they developed three products on the 310cc platform - BMW G 310 R, BMW 310 GS, and TVS Apache RR 310. "Our strong synergies have led to the development of impressive offerings in the sub-500cc segment," said Markus Schramm, Head of BMW Motorrad.

All the jointly developed products from these companies have been well accepted across markets in EU, US, Japan, China and India, with over 100,000 customers. "In light of our fruitful association with TVS, we are delighted to extend our cooperation to include... joint development of new platforms including electric vehicles," Schramm added.