DSK and the art of balancing brands

Shirish Kulkarni, Chairman of DSK Motowheels, is comfortable juggling two diverse brands — Hyosung and Benelli.

This February, the Hyosung Aquila 250, the smallest cruiser on offer by the South Korean manufacturer, was brought to India. Meanwhile, bookings for the Tornado 302R from Benelli of Italy kicked off last month. “Both are strong brands that offer good looking bikes, says Kulkarni. “Benelli starts at ₹1.85 lakh and can go up to ₹12 lakh. Hyosung retails between ₹3-7 lakh.”

DSK’s association with Hyosung goes back to June 2012 when it took over the retail operations from Barware and sales grew over the next two years. “We increased our dealers from 11 to 36 during 2013 and this attracted the attention of Benelli,” he says.

The Italian company was looking for a partner in India and checking out on potential dealers. The inevitable meetings followed with Kulkarni and a partnership was eventually sealed. “Benelli is a 105-year-old brand and motorcycle enthusiasts know its history,” he says.

In March 2015, DSK Motowheels entered into a partnership with Benelli and launched five Italian superbikes, between ₹2.83 lakh and ₹11.81 lakh. Rival Ducati, too, re-entered India the same month, providing a premium ownership experience to motorcycle enthusiasts in the country.

Incidentally, a Benelli India-specific bike is on the anvil. “We are working on a 380 cc motorcycle and should have one ready by the end of the year. It will be an India-specific motorcycle. We have been doing research on the same for about a year now and have gathered enough data,” says Kulkarni.

With the superbike market set to double over the next three years and hit 30,000 units by 2020, newer entrants are making a beeline here. Apart from Harley-Davidson, Royal Enfield, Ducati and Benelli betting big on India, Japanese majors Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki are also introducing a slew of models.

Kulkarni, however, claims there is a clear demarcating line. “There is a certain science in how we differentiate and eliminate premium manufacturers. These are brands that have a full-fledged facility, such as KTM Bajaj or Royal Enfield. Since they have been manufacturing in India and have local vendors, they have a certain advantage,” he adds.

From Kulkarni’s point of view, the competitors to contend with the likes of Ducati, Triumph and Harley-Davidson where the total market is 15,000 units. DSK’s share here with Benelli and Hyosung is 3,450 units (in 2016), a market share of 35 per cent. And, of the two, Benelli has a lion’s share since it has more products to offer, twice as much as Hyosung.

Kulkarni believes it is important to go “as close as possible” to what consumers want, which explains why new launches need to be segment-specific. “We make it as attractive and affordable as possible since this has to be value for money,” he says.

The motorcycle landscape in India has also been changing from utility to luxury and up to nearly six years ago, owning a super bike was a piece of novelty. All of this has changed now. “We need to have a lot of choice with our products, says Kulkarni. “We are trying to be on top of consumers’ recall value with our brands.”

For the moment, the Benelli TNT 600i is the fastest selling model from the DSK stable, registering sales of 1,000 units.

“Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai and Delhi are very strong markets for us. Particularly for Benelli, Chennai is becoming a very good market, though not so much for Hyosung,” says Kulkarni. Yet, both brands continue to be relevant even as the Italian sibling clearly has a larger share of the pie.

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