Benelli aims to sell 2,000 units in 2019; to expand portfolio

: Italian motorcycle-maker Benelli back after finding a new partner to retail its products in the domestic market has set a target to sell around 2,000 units before the end of current year, a top official said Friday.

Benelli early this year, appointed Adishwar Auto Ride India, a partner of Mahavir Group, to manage the company's operations in the country.

According to an official, the company began selling motorcycles from January in the domestic market with its new partner and had sold around 1,000 units till June.

"We are expecting to sell close to 2,000 units before end of 2019...," Mahavir Group-Director, Vikas Jhabakh told PTI.

The company which currently retails five motorcycles under its portfolio, unveiled the 500cc Leoncino here at a price of Rs 4.79 lakh (ex-showroom).

"We relaunched three bikes and in January we introduced two more bikes. We are increasing that to six bikes today under our portfolio with the launch of Leoncino 500cc. Before December we will be launching three more bikes," he said.

To a query, he said the company planned to step up retail network in the country by adding 12-13 showrooms by December.

"Currently, we have 19 dealers across 18 different cities. Our intention is to open 12-13 showrooms by end of calendar year(2019)," he said.

Some of the dealerships would be in Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Vishakapatnam and Hubli, he said.