Sharad Mohan Mishra on how TVS is investing in a greener future

TVS is investing heavily into the e-mobility space. Daniel Blackham speaks to president and head of e-bikes Sharad Mohan Mishra to understand the Group’s plans for the e-bike market.

This piece first appeared in the December edition of BikeBiz magazine – get your free subscription here

The TVS Group is a multinational business with more than 50 subsidiaries including motorcycle manufacturer, TVS Motor Company.

TVS Motor Company is the largest company within the group and has an annual production capacity of more than four million vehicles.

In recent years, TVS has expanded in Europe with the purchase of British motorcycle marque Norton.

TVS is also interested in the future outside of combustion engines with the acquisitions of European e-bike maker Swiss E-Mobility Group and EBCO. Two significant stakes in the ground.

But to understand where TVS is going, you have to look back at its roots.

T. V. Sundram Iyengar started the first bus service in Madurai, India in 1911, and founded TVS, a company in the transportation business with a fleet of vehicles.

“From that time onwards, quality of life improvements have been the focus for all TVS activities,” explained Sharad Mohan Mishra, president and head of e-bikes at TVS Motor Company.

“For TVS, the aim is to improve quality of life globally through mobility solutions which are sustainable, safe, responsible.

“We would like to have asset types which satisfy the needs of all across different geographies, and that’s where our investment in e-bikes comes in.”

TVS has seen a shift in attitudes in industrial economy, particularly in Europe.

“It is very directed towards greener, shorter distance journeys,” said Mishra.

“Businesses and individuals want more control in terms of the carbon footprints.

“E-bikes have a very clear positioning for us and that is why our investment in this up-and-coming market is doing well. By building up an asset type that we can expand into a portfolio, we are then able to satisfy our own vision statement.”

European e-bike market challenges

Although e-bikes are gaining market share in all European territories, businesses in that space are not immune to the hurdles facing those in traditional cycling circles.
Despite this, Mishra sees more opportunities than challenges and insists there is light at the end of the tunnel.

“Europe is actually quite advanced in terms of the adoption of e-bikes,” he explained

“An electric bike is just not an extension of the bicycle industry, it is a new mobility platform for short distance travelling. I see this as a 10-year-old industry still at an early stage.

“The efficiency across the industry and more consolidation will happen, as will more refinement in terms of customer experience.”

Mishra acknowledges that supply chain optimisation is the biggest hurdle ahead for the e-bike market

“You’ll see more and more streamlining of the supply chain and reduction of costs.

“And there’ll be more focus on the customer experience and ownership – as many [other] industries have seen.”

Investing in EBCO

The belief in e-mobility as integral to improving the quality of life for millions around the world is central to TVS’ expansion into e-bikes.

“We have invested ourselves into the market already with Swiss e-Mobility Group – a very high quality engineered product which is very successful in the DACH region,” said Mishra

“When looking at how we could expand in the UK, we came across EBCO. At that point in time, EBCO had been in business for many years but was struggling to expand beyond the UK.

“If you have a brand within our business, we can bring this opportunity across the board in other geographies and look to expand our portfolio in the UK also.”

EBCO stood out to the TVS Group due to its market position, described by Mishra as very different from others.

“EBCO has a portfolio that is very clear – a premium value range of products for city riding,” he said.

“EBCO is a well-known brand in the UK which we can grow further using our expansion and scale up strategies.

“The product portfolio is very apt for a particular segment and our customers find it attractive for this market. It is a very thoughtful design portfolio being updated naturally.”

EBCO Changes

As many will know, the investment in EBCO saw a complete relaunch of the brand – from top to bottom.

“We looked at the fundamental positioning of the company to understand what is required to achieve our long-term vision for EBCO,” said Mishra.

“We then looked to create a blueprint to achieve that vision within a time frame.

“After speaking with Rick and Paul (Stanforth, founders of EBCO), we thought the best way forward was to start everything from scratch.”

One of the most noticeable elements of the relaunch was the simplification of its product range. Now EBCO offers products across three clear categories: Urban, Adventure and Street.

“As I mentioned earlier, we don’t see e-bikes just as an extension of the bike industry,” said Mishra.

“We looked at how we can help people understand what the electric bike industry is and how we communicate and bring into the market from our downstream business activities.

“So we created a product portfolio which is extremely suitable for the market.”

As well as streamlining the product offering, EBCO built a team with around 80 to 100 years of combined experience in the bike industry.

“We also have a sales and service team because we fundamentally believe that we cannot sell a product which is not service ready,” said Mishra.

“So we built that first before we started selling any products. We also have a headquarter team for brand development and product planning

“This is then all integrated so we can maintain a fresh outlook on how the business operates.”

2024 and beyond

EBCO relaunched in August, so 2024 will be the brand’s first full season since the refresh.

Mishra sees this as a chance to grow and scale from a partnership perspective, develop the downstream business, build the brand further, and improve the customer experience.

All of this has been planned in a vision document.

A key focus for EBCO next year is strong partnerships with IBDs.

“We will bring the digital approach in terms of reaching out to the customer too, but we are building a combination of that mechanism where we partner with the dealers,” said Mishra

“We promote the demand and then we also create an opportunity for them to interact with the customer and ensure the servicing is being done.

“Partnerships are important. We are not trying to see a ‘winner takes all’ kind of approach.. We are trying to see the industry ecosystem grow as a whole.”

It’s clear that TVS has big plans for EBCO, the UK market and beyond, but the motivation remains the same as when T. V. Sundram Iyengar started that humble bus service – to make the lives of everyday people easier.

“We really want people to understand how valuable the bicycle is as a mobility platform,” said Mishra

“Industry leaders and thought leaders all have a common goal and that is to see people adopting more electric mobility as part of their day-to-day life.”