The Hindu Business Line : Kinetic, Sanyang venture to launch scooterette in June

Taipei May 3 The first product of the alliance between Taiwanese two-wheeler major Sanyang Industry Co Ltd. and Kinetic Motor Co Ltd (KMCL) will be a scooterette that will be launched in the Indian market in June. More two-wheeler models, including one developed "from scratch" and perhaps, even their all terrain vehicles may follow, Mr Harrison Liu, Vice-President, Sanyang, Asia Pacific region, and head, international business, has said. The $1 billion Sanyang Industry Co had acquired 11.1 per cent stake in KMCL for a little over Rs 13 crore last year.

The new 2-wheeler will be manufactured at KMCL's plant at Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh and co-branded as Kinetic-SYM, Mr Ajinkya Firodia, Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, KMCL, said. It is based on one of the Taiwanese company's existing models that has undergone some India-specific modifications.

Speaking to a team of media persons at Sanyang's manufacturing facility at Taipei, Mr Liu called the Indian foray, its fifth overseas venture, "A significant event in its international expansion." The company already has one manufacturing plant each in Vietnam and Indonesia, and two in China.

The latest offering, targeted at women customers (who comprise 65 per cent of scooterette buyers) will be an automatic vehicle, and have the high standards for "noise, vibration and harshness" control that Sanyang is famed for. In the initial stages, the scooters will have 10-15 per cent import content from Taiwan including parts like the suspension and material for the cylinder head, Mr Liu said. "Eventually we are looking at 95 per cent localisation," he said, adding that "with India's rich manufacturing research resource, it may, in the future, also be possible to 100 per cent localise."

Kinetic-SYM's maiden product will be sold through Kinetic's existing network of dealers. "We took on the job of upgrading select dealerships beginning last year, and appointing 70 new dealers. The work is now complete," Mr Firodia explained, adding that the scooter will be available at 320 of its 400 dealers, as a national rollout would follow. The company is targeting sales of around 55,000-65,000 units in the first year, with an annual growth projection of 15-20 per cent. A second product launch was likely in a year's time he also indicated.

Reacting to the challenge of selling a new scooter in a largely motorcycle dominated market such as India's, Mr Liu pointed out that the Chinese market had exactly the same composition as the Indian market till a few years ago. "The market today, however is 45 per cent scooters, 45 per cent motorcycles and the rest is step-through," Mr Liu replied. "We will bring our experience in Vietnam, China and Indonesia to the Indian market," he asserted, further stating that the "existing scooter market size is enough to support our business."

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