The country’s largest utility and tractor maker Mahindra & Mahindra is planning to kick off its two-wheeler business with automatic scooters, now that it has Kinetic Motors’ assets under its belt. Mahindra & Mahindra may co-brand its products with Kinetic Motors, given the latter’s brand equity in this segment.
“We may consider a Mahindra Kinetic co-branding strategy in the future as both Kinetic and Mahindra enjoy strong brand identities in their respective segments,” said Anup Mathur, president designate, Mahindra & Mahindra (two-wheelers).
The automatic scooter segment constitutes about 15 per cent of the two-wheeler market. “We will initially focus on the ungeared scooter segment, which has posted steady growth over the last three to four years. Models that have done well in the Kinetic stable will be retained, while those that haven’t will be phased out,” said Mathur.
Kinetic Motors has a three per cent share of the automatic scooter market. Honda, TVS Motors and Hero Honda occupy the top three positions in the automatic scooter segments.
Kinetic Motors, in association with Honda Japan, was the first company to launch automatic (gearless) scooters branded as Kinetic Honda way back in 1984. The joint venture ceased to exist in 1998.
The company has four models in the 100 cc and above segment and two models in the scooterette category (below 100 cc). It sells Kinetic Flyte 125 cc under an agreement with Sym of Taiwan and seven models in the 165 cc segment in association with Italy’s Italjet.
M&M may be looking at leveraging Sym’s technological know-how to launch automatic scooters in the premium category of 160 cc and above, according to industry experts.
“This will take another two years. In India, ungeared scooters are bought for utility purposes,” said an executive from a rival scooter company. The Kinetic mopeds and motorcycles (three models) haven’t performed well.
Kinetic Motors’ market share in motorcycles, the largest segment in the two-wheeler market, has fallen below 1 per cent.
