Ather to unveil new platform EL, likely to drive sales uptick
is getting ready to ramp up its game as it prepares to unveil a new platform, called EL, later this month during the annual community day.
This would be a brand new platform for developing at least one more family scooter (currently Ather sells the Rizta based on the older platform). Analysts have already indicated that the new platform is a significant factor in their projections of a healthy volume growth and market share increase for the company going forward.
But will products built on the new platform signal Ather's entry into the mass market, with pricing below the psychological mark of ₹1 lakh? A source said that at least initially, the new scooter built on the EL platform may be priced above the ₹1 lakh mark despite production cost savings.
And speaking after the declaration of June quarter results,
Tarun Mehta
, Executive Director and CEO, told analysts 'EL… will help us expand the market because it's a cheaper platform for us to manufacture. It will also be manufactured largely out of our new facility which is more vertically integrated so has better assembly costs. So, overall EL opens up the gate for more accessible priced products in the coming year'.
How critical the new EL platform will be for Ather can be gauged from the fact that analysts at Nomura have estimated sales volumes of the company to rise at a cumulative annual growth rate of about 41 per cent till FY28.
Among the reasons for this growth would be the new EL platform besides rapid distribution expansion and the launch of another platform for motorcycles, called Zenith.
Our focus is shifting on network expansion into this zone as we speak. This is a very large zone. States like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, really giant geographies, all of Northeast, we are very excited about themTarun Mehta
'We estimate its volumes to rise at a CAGR of ~41 per cent over FY25-28F, from 155,000 in FY25 to 436,000 in FY28F. This will be backed by the doubling of its stores from about 350 (March-25), launch of the 'EL' platform in FY27 and the 'Zenith' motorcycle platform down the line,' the Nomura analysts said. And HSBC said that 'The upcoming launch of the new EL production platform in August this year to target the economy scooter segment should be a market share tailwind.'
Q1 performance In the first quarter of FY26, Ather's total income was ₹672.9 crore, growing by 83 per cent year-on-year. Adjusted gross margins rose by 117 per cent to ₹154.8 crore, EBITDA margins improved by 1,700 basis points, from negative 33 per cent to negative 16 per cent. The company sold 46,078 units in the quarter, up 97 per cent year-on-year, driven by robust demand for the Ather Rizta and an expanding retail footprint.
The loss after tax was ₹178.2 crore. The first quarter also saw Ather improve its market share. Mehta said during the call that Ather almost doubled its share year-on-year to 14.3 per cent in the June quarter this fiscal and compared to the previous March quarter, market share expanded by 70 basis points.
'To better understand this growth I think it's important to focus on our strategy which has been based on geography… in south India we have generally been a strong player and there our strategy has been in building up our dominance. Q1 FY26 was the first quarter when, for the entirety of the quarter, Ather became the number one player by volume ending with a 22.8 per cent market share'.
Most of Ather's
market share growth
has been driven by faster distribution expansion and Mehta said that in FY26, 'a fair bit of growth will continue coming from the middle India geography. Rest of India, particularly North India, we have added stores and we have expanded our network. But really our focus is shifting on network expansion into this zone as we speak. This is a very large zone. States like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, really giant geographies, all of Northeast, we are very excited about them.'
Q1 FY26 was the first quarter when, for the entirety of the quarter, Ather became the number one player by volume ending with a 22.8 per cent market shareTarun Mehta
Rare earth impact
The legacy ICE two-wheeler OEMs have already indicated a major impact on production this month due to the crippling shortage of rare earth magnets. But Ather's Mehta said that the rare earth magnet shortage could impact the business for just about a week this quarter.
'The right way to see this would be not production stopping for seven days but a possible gap in our ability to fulfill our dealers' demand for up to about a week for this entire quarter. Obviously teams continue working hard on minimising this. …This will have some impact on retail. I would be amiss if I say this will have no impact on retail because our channel stocks are not that high…I think it would have a small impact in Q2 hopefully.'
Mehta said that the key challenge was China's ban on export of heavy rare earth magnets.
'This leaves a few possible options. Either you partly assemble your motors in China and don't import magnets or you move production to heavy rare earth free magnets… Or you move away from rare earth of any category and move to ferrite. Now in our case, we are exploring all. I will not be able to share at this point. I'll likely be able to give more color by the end of Q2 (July-September quarter), once we finish the transition. But at this point, honestly, we are exploring all options.'
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