Brammo Slashes Enertia Electric Motorcycle Price; Cites Production Efficiencies
By John O'Dell November 17, 2009Even electric motorcycles aren't immune to the holiday markdown.
Brammo, which sells its Enertia electric motorcycles on line and at several Best Buy stores on the West Coast, has chopped the retail price of the 324-pound bike by a third, citing efficiencies gained by broader production.
Closely-held Brammo, whose investors include Best Buy, is selling the Enertia for $7,995, down from its prior price of $11,995. Customers can get the out-of-pocket price down to $7,195 with a 10 percent federal income-tax credit, the Ashland, Ore.-based company said.
Brammo was able to reduce the price because of production efficiencies as well as the declining cost of "key motorcycle components, said John Farris, Brammo's director of marketing.
He declined to say how many Enertias have been sold or which component costs fell, though he said the cost reductions were "across the board."
The electric motorcycle's original price "was established before the first regular-production Enertia was built," said Farris. "As our experience increased, we were able to achieve production and assembly efficiencies, supply pricing improvements, and have improved from an overall cost-reduction initiative."
Brammo, which started selling the Enertia at two Best Buy stores in Portland, Ore., in August, has since added two Los Angeles-area Best Buy stores, with plans to sell the motorcycle at two Best Buys in the San Francisco area by the end of the month, Farris said. The company plans a broader geographical rollout next year.
The motorcycle, powered by a lithium battery, has a top speed of 60 miles an hour and can go about 40 miles on a four-hour charge.
Best Buy, the largest U.S. electronics retailer, started selling electric scooters such as Currie Technologies' E-Zip as well as Segway two-wheeled vehicles at some of its western U.S. stores this past summer in an effort to use its technology-oriented reputation to gain sales from electric vehicles as sales from home-entertainment components flattened.
Danny King, Contributor
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