Chennai: As part of an aggressive expansion plan, Pune-based automobile company Kinetic Engineering will develop two wheeler engines, three wheeler gearboxes as well as gear box cum axles for electric three and four wheeler cargo vehicles. This is in addition to its plans to develop a brand new motorcycle in the 250-500 cc displacement segment in collaboration with its partner British bike brand Norton, said Ajinkya Firodia, MD, Kinetic Engineering and Motoroyale.
“The board has given Kinetic Engineering the mandate to develop a few strategic products of our own rather than only make products designed by our customers,” he said Firodia.
“The first of these and the near term target is to develop 250-500 cc two wheeler engines which we would also sell to group company Motoroyale. This can be used to develop a fresh motorcycle in collaboration with one of our global partners,” he said.
“We can also export this engine across the world.” Currently most motorcycle engines are sourced from Chinese companies which have used their monopoly in this market to nearly double prices. Kinetic, said Firodia, will offer “global quality at 75% of the Chinese price”.
The two wheeler engine will be strapped onto a brand new premium motorcycle that “we will develop using design and technology of our foreign partners (in Motoroyale) and manufacturing capability of Kinetic Engineering,” he said Firodia.
“We will make this motorcycle in 1-2 years which will be in 250-500 cc range, but will be priced between Rs 2-Rs 3 lakh,” he addesaid. This can be exported to our partner for worldwide sale. While Motoroyale has an entire bouquet of brands, the first brand that will be preferred for this collaboration will be Norton Motorcycles “because it is a 51:49 JV which was created with a vision like this. We will develop a brand new bike and localize as we go ahead,” said Firodia.
The second medium term, plan is to develop three wheeler gear boxes which can be used in BS6 engines. These will target local players which manufacture cargo three-wheelers. “Most companies use Greaves Cotton engines but the market needs a gear box for it,” said Firodia. Kinetic, he added, is working along with Greaves Cotton R&D to develop the gear box though there is no “official” tieup. The longer-term vision is to enter electric vehicle components. “We are developing a three wheeler and light commercial four-wheeler gearbox cum axle as a system,”he said .
“This is currently imported from China. We would approach our existing customers” but as the market develops there will be a lot more electric vehicle companies to cater to, he said. Kinetic intends to invest around Rs 20 crore in all in these new projects in the short, medium and long term.