In the above article, things are put somewhat right. Ather serious this as a premium scooter, so it comes at a price. It is is to decide whether to buy it or not. Keeping that away, personally I wish 450x was more affordable. Now that we see the chance of more plans that might come, it has brought a smile back to me.
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@abhishek.balaji @Ather.Team One cannot have two swords in the sleeve. Likewise you cannot say that you were selling 450 under a loss and hence we increased the price for 450x which is way beyond nominal. If you are talking about norms even in automobile industry no one raised prices like two folds. They increase in a gradual manner year by year hence the impact will be nominal. Then again not most athers were sold through your experience center. Itâs more of a word of mouth which happened. This strategy of yours have already given a bad impression among many even me who have been following you even when the company was not established. You can give thousand reasons justifying your pricing and few will say this seems better but at the end there are many who still discuss offline about your crazy pricing structure whether it may be upfront or subscribtion based. We bikers discuss in our groups and not everyone has written that in your forum. So please take this as a very serious caution and have a conscious discussion. There are many examples in market wherein the product did not get succeed just due to wrong pricing. Take it in any industry not just limited to automobile.
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Soooo true.
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Another major point is, Ather itself mentioned that they will bring lower-end models while unveiling 450 2 years back.
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I donât think the bill of materials is so much higher even for 450. Yes, Battery prices are high but most of it should be offset by the subsidy and almost double the price of traditional scooters.
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I think Atherâs growing fixed costs (employee wages, rents, etcâŚ) are leading to this situation. Ather even recruited high profile industry veterans to resolve supply chain, manufacturing issues, etc⌠I donât think they come cheap.
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The automobile companies needs scale to survive let alone thrive. Ather is not able to do that and still limited to 2 cities after almost 2 years hurting them badly.
Hope they pull through these difficult times and successful.
Ather 450x Production cost reduction techniques from me
If Ather can assemble bike @ local dealership service center initially that would reduce the cost of transportation SHIPPING @ low cost
There are thousands of mechanical looking for jobs in their core field and internship in manufacturing WORK FORCE @ low cost
I love to work for Ather
I might be misinterpreting the recommendation, but if this is how it had happened, then Ather would have had gradually increased the price over the past year and made sure it was close to 1.5L when 450X was ready for launch, so that it wouldnât shock the customers. I am actually glad they chose to keep it at the original lower price to the last possible moment, until they absolutely had to increase. Sounds like a more genuine intention to me 
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Itâs a catch 22 situation. Ather could have hiked prices a years ago, but that was when Fame 2 with a higher subsidy kicked in. They could have increased it again after a couple of months, but whoâd want to hike prices just as they are expanding to another city (Chennai)? Or they could have done it after that but that was when GST was cut down to 5%.
If they had increased prices at anytime in the last 12 months, folks in this very same forum would have accused them of being âGreedyâ, âProfit seekingâ, âInvestors over customers â⌠etc.
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When @abhishek.balaji says itâs industry norm on software locking few features then it should be considered on the pricing front as well, is what I was trying to convey. Show us one manufacturer (not premium category) who has raised the price of its product like this. The price difference is around 41-51k between 450 and new 450x plus and pro variants on road bangalore. Even car manufacturers increment not to this extent. This all comes from our experience of owning multiple cars and bikes over period of years.
When you are talking about fame 2, I have read somewhere and not sure of the authenticity, to be eligible for fame 2, the ex showroom cost should be lesser than or equal to 1.5 lakhs. Only then the government will pass on subsidy. But here for 450x it has already crossed that region. Company claim the prices are inclusive of subsidy. So if we add a subsidy of approx 25k to announced prices then it would be 1.74 & 1.84k ex showroom which makes it not eligible for fame 2. Pls correct me if Iâm wrong.
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Itâs just introductory pricing, @anuonweb. We have explained this multiple times in this forum on why we had to increase prices. Selling the 450 just was not sustainable at the prices. We chose to sell the 450 at that price, since there was no market existing for such a scooter.
Instead of just increasing the prices without updates, we added some features, updated the specs, added colours and then raised the prices.
Since the FAME subsidy limit is on the ex-Factory pricing ceiling of 1.5L, both the 450 Plus and 450X meet.
When can i expect collector addition of 450x� When it will be delivered? Can i exchange 450 with 450x?
@Ather.Team, My Ather 450 order is open for payment and you guys are not pitching in all the options out on a table for 450x to decide which one to go for. I am eagerly waiting to own a AtherâŚ
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The case is same for me also.But my window already opened long back.Still waiting to get full details of 450x.
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Do you mean to say that options are not enabled while attempting for payment?
Yes please @Ather.Team @abhishek.balaji, please release the theme of collectorâs edition and the revised subscription plans. I really want to decide between 450 and 450x.
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Specifications, Pricing, Looks and Delivery timelines are all known. What more are you expecting?
If at all something is not known it is how the collectorâs edition will look like. If you like it you can take it, or you can take one of the 3 colours shown on launch day. On pricing front there may be a higher downpayment lower monthly subscription payment option coming but even thatâll add up to 149k and 159k and nothing else. Ather one/Ather connect/ Ather charge pricing for future will apply to both the existing 450 and the upcoming 450x. So IMO, you have everything to decide on which one to go. If Iâm missing something, can you guys be specific on what you are expecting from Ather?
Ather has told us that they are working on the revised battery subscription pricing. And also Iâm eligible for collectorâs edition. So I would like to see if there are any changes in the battery subscription prices and the collectorâs edition looks of 450x before deciding between 450 and 450x.
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End of the day, irrespective of what subscription you choose, you will pay the same price as it is today. There will be no further price cuts.
Collectors edition is only going to be visually different. No difference in performance specs or pricing.
Whatever are the pricing options thatâll be made available, itâll add up to the same for both 450+ and 450x. Letâs take for example the 450X at 159000. Any battery subscription plan is like a loan of 36 months at an interest rate of 12.25%.
- 99000 downpayment and a loan of 60000 in which case EMI(subscription plan fee) will be 2000.
- 115000 and loan of 45000 with an EMI of 1500.
- 129000 and loan of 30000 with an EMI of 1000.
The EMIs will add up to 159000, which is the principal cost of the vehicle including the battery over a period of 30 monthsâŚ99000+(2000 x 30) or 129000+(1000 x 30) or 115000+(1500 x 30). The interest on the loan is recovered in the other 6 months of EMI. For this interest, you have a peace of mind that a battery replacement is available if it goes down below 80%. If it is actually replaced it is actually a loss to Ather but Ather has confidence in their battery that it wonât need replacement in those 36 months. Which is why people buying upfront by paying 159000 are getting a 3yrs unlimited kms warranty. Even if we get an entirely new plan also, the formula will remain same⌠X000 + (EMI x 30) = 159000
So if pricing is what you want to make your decision, all the details are known.
Coming to the looks. If speculations are to be believed, it will be like a wrap/print on the panels thatâll make it look like inside-out. I donât know if you would want to pay 45k more just for the looks. Performance or feature wise, everything is already known.
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The subscription plan itself are important. Without Proper understanding how to go about?
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Whatâs unclear about the battery subscription plan? Sure, we are evaluating a higher upfront, and lower monthly cost, but like @hemanth.anand and @raghav.srinivasan mentioned, youâll end up paying the same cost anyway.
If youâre okay with the 450 specs, go ahead and buy right away. If you want the 450 Plus or 450X, and the battery subscription plans, youâll have to wait till Q3 to get your hands on them.