On the launch of the Coimbatore DriveX Technical Centre, Narain Karthikeyan said in a statement, “The pre-owned two-wheeler vehicle market is changing rapidly. We have been successful launching new business models, including the pre-owned model in the two wheeler segment earlier. And now, we have established this state-of-the-art technical centre with such immense capacity closely working with ATS Elgi machinery to meet our demands in churning out the volumes for the customers.”
The DriveX Technical Centre in Coimbatore aims to refurbish 350–400 two-wheelers a month with this centre. It will function in two phases. In the first phase, ten service bays will be available, and in the next phase, six service bays are planned to be set up. The centre will have all the principal features such as an in-built two-wheeler–specific paint booth, hydraulic ramps, a heating+baking oven and a dedicated training centre.
Coimbatore’s DriveX Technical Centre will supply to COCO (company-owned, company-operated) and FOFO (franchise-owned, franchise-operated) outlets from regions across Salem to Kerala and cater to cities across Erode, Tirupur, Coimbatore, Palakkad, and Kochi. A benchmark centre, it will later be replicated in Hosur, Chennai and, eventually, across the whole country.
The company had earlier announced that it aims to log retail sales of over 6,000 vehicles a year and establish a network of 50 outlets and five refurb centres across tier I and tier II cities. DriveX has also expanded to reach out for potential franchisees all across the country.
DriveX was founded in 2020 by Narain Karthikeyan, India’s first Formula 1 driver, and Christopher Sargunam, a hands-on entrepreneur and startup strategist. Noting the large-scale disorganisation in India’s pre-owned two-wheeler market and that the Indian mobility sector is dominated by two-wheelers, they set up DriveX, which offers a hassle-free vehicle ownership experience by providing buyers with access to impeccably maintained two-wheelers.
DriveX’s state-of-the-art technical centres have the capacity to churn out two wheelers with the ability to cater to refurbishment and scheduled/unscheduled maintenance. The two wheelers are evaluated using a 120-point check list and then certified fit for sale. They are also provided with a 3-month warranty on the powertrain.DriveX is currently hiring a variety of technical personnel, such as technicians, tinkerers, painters, etc. to form an entire ecosystem for the scaling up of 10X in the near future. It has been collaborating with training colleges to provide jobs to ITI graduates as well.
