The Hindu Business Line : Kinetic Engg to launch seven Italjet scooters

KINETIC Engineering proposes to launch four scooters of Italjet design next year. The company recently acquired rights to manufacture and sell seven scooters from the stable of the Italian scooter maker, Italjet.

Of the seven, Kinetic will launch four next year, two of which will also be sold in the domestic market, the company's Joint Managing Director Ms Sulajja Firodia Motwani, said on Tuesday.

For every Italjet scooter that Kinetic exports, it would have to pay the Italians a royalty. This is apart from the one-time fee payable for the rights transfer, she said.

Kinetic Engineering has today two foreign connections — with Hyosung Motors of Korea for motorcycles and Italjet for scooters. Both Hyosung and Italjet have offered assistance in Kinetic's export efforts — while Hyosung is interested in buying Kinetic-made Hyosung vehicles, Italjet will give its distribution network for selling the scooters.

Today, Kinetic launched the 170-cc Laser motorcycle, a model from the Hyosung stable. The vehicle priced Rs 51,490, ex-showroom, Chennai. Talks are on with Hyosung for the Koreans to buy Lasers from Kinetic.

With the new vehicle and the Italjet scooters, Kinetic Engineering expects its (automobile) turnover to go up from around Rs 700 crore to around Rs 900 crore next year, Ms Motwani said.

She did not want to disclose profit figures or estimates, but said that: "there would be pressure on the bottomline."

She noted that the company was "trying to compress 20 years into 20 months", meaning that it entered the motorcycles business only some 20 months ago, while the competitors have been there for more than 20 years.

Therefore, Kinetic had to work more on building up its image as a motorcycle manufacturer. This also has its effect on the bottomline.

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