In January 2024, I had this crazy expansion idea. Our current gross profit margin is around 20%, which is surprisingly higher than the automotive industry average. Why? Because we don’t have competitors yet, and customers trust us.
Here’s a funny fact: my early customers actually set the prices for the cars. They told me, “You need to make more than 20% to survive in the Bangladeshi market.” They genuinely want us to thrive because they want to see locally manufactured cars they can be proud of—cars with reliable after-sales service.
Now, about the idea. I’ve identified two key factors keeping our product slow:
Credit facilities for customers. Affordable pricing while maintaining high quality.
If I post on social media offering a 30% down payment plan where another “entity” covers the remaining 70%, I’m confident we could achieve 30% month-on-month growth in sales.
And if we can reduce car prices by 30%—not by cutting quality, but through economies of scale—I’m certain we can secure at least 10,000 orders by 2025.
The plan is already written, tested, vetted, and audited. I’m an engineer and was among the top students in my class. For those who know me, you know my obsession with thorough documentation. This plan is foolproof.
You might ask about the marketing plan, but let me ask you this: how did you hear about Palki Motors? Our marketing strategy is one of the best growth-hack case studies in Bangladesh. So, trust me—marketing won’t be an issue.
So, what’s holding me back?
I have a playbook to hit 10,000 orders per year. It’s detailed and broken into stages.
The first stage was creating a “killer product”—something customers would cry to have delivered tomorrow. This decision was entirely data-driven.
Currently, 58% of people who test drive our cars don’t purchase, with only 3.1% converting into buyers. Clearly, we had to improve the journey from test drive to purchase.
That’s where Cityboy V3 comes in. I’m confident customers will beg to have it delivered immediately. This is the car I’d proudly take to my village and show my people: This is the car I made.
The best part? We have a scalable blueprint, extensive research, and a proven manufacturing process to back it up.
The next step? Finding partners who match my level of craziness.
The Goal:
10,000 EV pre-orders by December 2026. Deliver all units by July 2027.
The Impact:
Transform the lives of 10,000 commercial passenger car drivers, enabling them to send their kids to better schools. Reduce 100,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually. Provide 146 million passengers with zero-emission travel. I will make few investors millionaires
How will we fund this vision?
Money to deliver those 10,000 units? I know where to find it. If I can build a car, don’t you think I can figure out where to secure $60M in working capital?
(More in comment)