Slow and steady is a mantra that has been adopted by electric two-wheeler startup River, and to seemingly good effect. The company, which began selling its maiden product, the Indie e-scooter, in 2023, has gradually scaled production as well as its network, and crossed 1,000-unit sales for the first time in March 2025. As it gears up to spread into other parts of the country, River is also plotting a sharp increase in production, as well as extension of its portfolio, by next year.
Also Read: Updated River Indie Electric Scooter Launched At Rs 1.43 Lakh
In a recent interaction with carandbike, River co-founder Aravind Mani confirmed the company’s second product will be a scooter in the mould of the Indie, but not a mere derivative of the Indie, and will occupy a different market segment.
Mani ruled out further diversification of the Indie family.
“By the time we scale up to 100 stores across the country by March 2026, we will launch our second product. It will be a scooter, which, like the Indie, will be within the utility-lifestyle spectrum only. We will not do anything outside of our brand identity”, Mani told carandbike, also ruling out entry into the electric motorcycle segment.
River is yet to decide the exact positioning of its second scooter. Industry sources suggest River may look at a model that is more premium and positioned higher than the Indie, but the start-up's strategy could be swayed by the response to the Indie – which won carandbike’s Electric Scooter of the Year title in 2024 -- in other parts of India. Scaling production is River’s immediate focus at this time as the startup is plotting entry into key cities in northern, western and central India in the next five months.
Also Read: car&bike Awards 2024: River Indie Is Scooter Of The Year
Mani revealed River is presently rolling out 2,000 units of the Indie every month from its factory on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The plant, which has an annual production capacity of 96,000 units in two shifts, is currently operating in just one shift, but the company plans to ramp-up production to 4,000 scooters by September, by when it will have at least one outlet in most prominent cities across the country.
River's current facility has a production capacity of 8,000 units a month.
By September, River plans to open 10 outlets across the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, five outlets across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Punjab, and four outlets across Odisha, West Bengal, Chattisgarh and Bihar. By the end of FY26, the startup intends to open more outlets in these states, as well as in Jharkhand and Assam, to take its total network tally to over 100 outlets.
Once its planned expansion is complete, River expects its current production facility to reach full utilisation, post which it will need to move to a larger plant. The start-up is in talks with a few states in south India for its new facility, which will boost its annual capacity to well over 1.5 lakh units. With a larger portfolio and enhanced production volumes, River hopes to cement its spot in the list of the top 10 electric two-wheeler brands in the country by FY2027.
