The Hindu Business Line : Aprilia-Hero Motors jt venture called off

Aprilia, which was recently taken over by Piaggio, will now set up its own venture in India along with the parent company, Mr Pankaj Munjal, Managing Director, Hero Motors, told Business Line.

"We no longer have a tie up with Aprilia," he added.

He said that Hero Motors will, however, try to sell engines for the scooters that are expected to be manufactured by the new Aprilia venture.

Hero Motors has a tie-up with Bombardier-Rotax for making low-displacement engines in India.

Last year, Hero Motors had announced that Aprilia was considering acquisition of 20 per cent stake in the company for about Rs 100 crore.

On its part, Hero Motors had earmarked an investment of about Rs 135 crore over a period of three years for setting up a factory to make these scooters.

The tie-up involved design outsourcing, engine supply contract and full vehicle export under a buyback arrangement with Aprilia.

According to industry sources, Piaggio officials have been visiting India for the past few months to understand the scooter market, which is the second largest in the world.

However, no timeframe has been set for the venture to be launched in India.

Soon after Piaggio took over the ailing Aprilia, Hero Motors had clarified that the venture with the Italian scooter maker would continue.

According to market sources, Piaggio has been eyeing India for quite some time to set up its own venture either with a partner or on its own.

But once it acquired Aprilia, it had access to the Italian company's huge portfolio of models. (Aprilia has a range of 22 models including scooterettes, scooters and motorcycles.)

Last December, Piaggio, the largest manufacturer of two-wheelers in Europe, took over Aprilia - the second largest - to create the world's fourth largest motorcycle maker.

It will have a portfolio of two-wheelers ranging from 50 cc to 1000 cc and eight production facilities worldwide with a capacity to make six lakh vehicles a year.

With Aprilia exiting the venture with Hero Motors, Kinetic is the only other two-wheeler manufacturer to have a tie-up with an Italian two-wheeler maker (Italjet). It plans to introduce the models from Italjet from April this year.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page