Kinetic to roll out 165 cc scooter soon

Kinetic Motor Company will enter the 165 cc scooter segment with the launch of Millennium by mid-December.

This will be followed by the launch of 135 cc bike Euro by February-March 2006. The gearless bikes are expected to be priced between Rs 40,000 and Rs 50,000.

Kinetic had last year acquired the marketing and manufacturing rights for seven scooters, including Millennium and Euro, from Italjet, the Italian two-wheeler manufacturer, who designed and developed the bikes. Kinetic is already present in the 135 cc segment with its bike Nova 135.

"We hope to sell between 75,000 and 100,000 Millennium and Euro bikes in the first year of their launch. Millennium is a scooter targeted towards the youth. Euro is an executive range scooter for the family," said Sulajja Firodia Motwani, joint managing director.

Both Millennium and Euro could give direct competition to Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India's bikes such as Eterno, Activa and Dio, industry sources said.

"Millennium would be the first scooter above 150 cc. In other words, there would be no competition for Millennium and it would offer the first alternative to a big 150 cc motorcycle for a customer looking for a big scooter," said a two-wheeler analyst in Mumbai.

According to Society of Indian Automotive Manufacturers statistics, the industry during 2004-05 sold more than 9.5 lakh scooters.

The industry is growing at 10-15 per cent annually. Of the total scooter market, 15 per cent comprise gearless scooters.

Honda, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motors and Kinetic Motors are the major players in the scooter market. Honda Scooters alone during the year sold more than 4 lakh scooters.