Lower price of the 450 Plus

In the Virtual Open House, they announced a price deduction on 450 Plus but not for 450X which in itself is such a demotivated move to own 450X on consumer’s perceptive.

Previously I had to pay 10k extra over 450 plus price to own a 450X and I had made up my mind to go for 450X with upfront payment but now with reduction in the price of 450 plus, I would have to pay 20k (approx.) more to own a 450X. The added features remain the same but somehow now I have to pay DOUBLE to get the same ? How do you want the consumer to perceive this ? To me it just comes across as a redirection of selling more 450 plus with the price drop as production has taken a hit during pandemic. And with the Co-founder saying we figured we could manufacture 450 plus in a little more lesser cost during announcing the new 450 Plus price, it makes me wonder what is the actual value of this vehicle now ? More importantly why should I pay 20k more to own a 450X ?

Sorry but since the launch I have never been fully convinced to buy 450X with so many things/factors around the pricing of the vehicle was never able to assign the value of the product to the price offered. To be honest it killed the enthusiasm of owning 450X which I had before the launch. Also not getting the collector’s edition merchandise yet didn’t help either.

Looking forward to a logical answer as it directly influences my buying decision.

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Hi Sourabh, hope you have read these 2 posts on the difference between 450/450 plus vs 450x.

If you think the specs of 450x is not needed, then one can always go for 450 plus.

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@sourabhansali Hi Sourabh, I think you should try looking at it in a different way. the entry point to owning the latest from Ather just got cheaper by 10k. There’s a real reason to consider the 450 Plus now. The difference in specs makes more sense too now.

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I think @tarun even mentioned this during the Open House, that its an incentive for people who want to get their first EV.

@sourabhansali If you had decided to buy the 450X upfront, how does the price dropping for 450 Plus makes any difference to you? Unless you only made the purchase decision based on pricing. Cos its been clearly explained how there’s plenty performance and features differences between 450 Plus v/s 450X.

Hope you’ll be convinced to get 450X and it’s pretty surely worth the money :slight_smile:

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Yes I have read them all and not the answer I was looking for but thanks.

I agree to your point from a mass consumer enthusiasm for EV vehicles but someone like me looking at 450X, that price to value factor is what is making me think other ways.

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To add to what others have said, the cost to manufacture the 450X remains the same. Earlier, the 450 Plus had a reduced price despite having the same hardware as the 450X to create an easier entry point for newer customers who didnt want the flagship 450X.

What we did say in the Open House was that due to COVID we had more time to evaluate how we could further differentiate the two versions, 450 Plus and 450X, and see if we could lower the entry point further. We were able to reduce the price of the 450 Plus, by manufacturing it exactly to its spec instead of just differentiation by software.

To be clear, the spec of the 450 Plus remains the same as what we had announced back in Jan. Just that it’ll now have a slightly smaller battery, and a few hardware changes, allowing for the price reduction.

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How could one not look at pricing while purchasing a product ? But again as I explained in my post, while to be more specific price drop of 450 plus has doubled the price gap between 450 plus and 450X with NO NEW FEATURES OR BENEFIT. With that perceptive, I’m just paying double to get the added features which makes me wonder the price to value factor. Also its the initial days of EV industry boom, we would never know the right price to value this early. Like to know your thoughts if you got how Im seeing this little pricing gap psychologically.

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I think you are overthinking this price change.

  • You decided to purchase the 450x at 1.59xx
  • Ather drops the price 450 plus by ₹9xxx.
  • Price dropped because of savings from a smaller battery pack, Bluetooth hardware removed and few other hardware changes.

So effectively the 450 plus is no longer the 450x with features deactivated. It’s by hardware a different product. Just like how you get steel rims with a base model car Vs Alloy rims on a top end model of the same car.

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Exactly. There’s simply quite a few hardware differences between the 450 plus and 450 X, which explains the price difference. This shouldn’t be much of a problem when choosing the scooter, either you want the performance or you don’t. Easy peasy! :slight_smile:

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Well you’d be right to expect new features in the 450X If the price of the 450X had increased but it’s the 450Plus who’s price has decreased. I think I understand your issue though. From your perspective it’s like the 450Plus set the benchmark like the value of $1 and with the drop of the value of that 1$ (450 plus) you feel like you’re paying the same for the 450X though the value of that $1 has fallen. It’s almost like you wanted to get the 450plus but since rh price diff was just 10k it made no economical sense to buy the Inferior product when it’s so close to the flagship product. And now in your eyes you have to end up paying 20k more than the product you actually need, and suddenly it makes less sense to pay that difference. If you had decided to go with the 450plus before this price drop you’d be so happy that the price dropped. All in perspective.

If you truly can’t see the difference in performance and features of the 450X compared to the 450 plus or you think that’s not worth 20k, Then the 450Plus is the right product for you. If you considered the upgradefrom the 450Plus and the 450X 20k isn’t worth the upgrade then you’re in luck since you’re going to get the 450Plus at 9k cheaper now. Go with it. The price diff in the 450Plus and the X initially wasn’t much because of the ownership model of being able to switch between the 2. But with that out of the way it’s a good thing that the 450plus can be made as a standalone scooter.

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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Ather in Kochi

Hi Abishek,

Thanks for the details.

I would be better if you update on the onroad price for various markets like chennai , bangalore etc… Also please provide us the exact suspcribption price after GST so that it will be helpful for us to calculate the amounts.

For both 450 plus and 450x

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EOD any company’s primary motive is revenue and sustainability. I have been following companies like gogoro, niu , Segway and I feel ather 450x offers excellent value proposition as a product

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Thanks for understanding my perspective. I’ll make my choice after re visiting the store. Thanks again.

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your OP was like pulled straight out of my head. im on the same page as you and most of the replies here seem like fanboy replies… saving suraj’s which has hit the nail on the head.

just to add my 2 cents for the folks who are defending this decision…

it doesnt matter if it was software locked or hardware restricted … the lower performance was what we were getting. thinking purely from a customer perspective. (this is where i feel the subscription model made most sense cos then the company can make money when the customer felt they needed the extra power and could save the money when they felt the need to )

the x and the plus were already coming at a premium over the 450 and the difference is already 30k plus… for the plus from the 450 and now its an additional 50 k for the x …

we want the x features but the pricing feels very apple-esque in the sense that we are being penalised for wanting the flagship

dissappointed in this move from a suppposed customer centric company … i would expect the maximum benefits/perks be given to the buyers of the flagship product reducing pro-rata from there.

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@jeetash, would like to understand what can be pro-rated here for the 450x ?. There is no hardware or software change to it.

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So 450 and 450plus are of same models with a new dashboard and new colours if I am not wrong.

Except for the name, the pmsm motor, the 21700 cells, better range, pickup, (top speed?), and then the new dashboard and colors.

And 450x is the same, but with connectivity, and even more speed, range and pickup.

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No, no and no :sweat_smile: From what I’ve gathered. Ather quotes 5Km lesser true range , same 0-40kmph time of 3.9s and the top speed is equal on all of athers scooters at 80kmph as of now. The only difference i could find is the torque is up from 20.5Nm to 22Nm and nothing else. Considering that the range is slightly lesser and the scooter is 11kilos lighter than the 450v1, I think it’s safe to assume the battery capacity will be the same as the 450 if not lesser.

Hmm about this. I’m waiting to see what Ather will do now since the 450plus will have some hardware differences so they might go with the old BLDC since they don’t really need the extra power anymore. We’ll have to wait and see.

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As I understood from open house announcement the difference in manufacturing approach for 450x and 450plus they identified is that as they realised with the abilities of 450plus announced earlier they made a change in battery not the motor

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