Ola does a u-turn: Plans more experience centres to take count to 200

At present the company has 20 experience centres; move is in contrast to company's earlier gameplan to disrupt traditional auto distribution channels by selling directly to customers

Ola Electric will be opening more experience centres in the country, taking the total count to 200 by March, said Bhavish Aggarwal in a Tweet today. 

At present the company has 20 experience centres. 

In a tweet Aggrwal said, "Customers love the convenience of online purchases and test rides--thousands a day and growing. Experience centres will enable even more people to experience our products."

The announcement to open more stores is a surprising move as the company has always maintained that it wants to disrupt the traditional auto distribution channels by selling directly to customers. 

This also comes at a time when the e-scooter manufacturer has seen sales dip. Ola Electric is in fourth position, behind Hero, Okinawa and Ather.

It also launched a sub-Rs 1 lakh variant this year on August 15, called S1. 

Meanwhile, the group, which spans across ride-hailing platforms and Ola Electric, is undergoing a major restructuring exercise across its engineering verticals and may cut nearly 200 engineering jobs as part of the process.

The Softbank-backed company currently has around 2,000 engineers spread across the ride-hailing platform and Ola Electric, and the firm said it aims to increase its engineering talent pool to 5,000 over the next 18 months. But as part of the restructuring exercise, the company is laying off 10 per cent or about 200 of the 2000 engineers, according to the sources.