Chennai: Super-bike retailer DSK Motowheels is planning a new manufacturing facility near Pune.
The company has identified 100 acres at Shalgaon, 200 km from Pune. Construction of the Rs 300-350-crore project is expected to start in three to four months and the plant will start assembling bikes in 10 months, said Shirish Kulkarni, Managing Director, at the launch of the company’s 25 {+t} {+h} retail showroom in the country.
Pune-based DSK Motowheels, part of the diversified Rs 5,000-crore DSK group, holds the exclusive rights to assemble and distribute the Korean brand of super bikes (Hyosung) in India.
DSK acquired the super-bike business from Garware Motors in June last year. Since then, it has sold 1,200 bikes, clocking Rs 42 crore. DSK also acquired Garware’s assembling facility in Wai near Pune. This facility assembles around 250 bikes a month (10 bikes in a shift).
After the Shalgaon facility begins operations, DSK plans to convert the Wai facility into a warehouse. The new facility is expected to assemble 18 bikes a shift. Exports could be looked into in the future.
At present, most components are imported from South Korea, through S&T Motors, which owns the Hyosung brand. Over a period of time, DSK expects to get into full-fledged manufacturing and sourcing components locally.
Whether the Korean company S&T Motors will look at investing in the Indian venture, Kulkarni said this is unlikely to happen now.
The Hyosung range in India includes sports and cruiser bikes in the 250-700 cc range, priced Rs 2.8 -Rs 5.8 lakh. DSK is looking at introducing commuter bikes in the 125-150 cc range next year or in 2015.
Super-bikes are high-performance motorcycles used for adventure riding, not daily commuting. This segment is growing at 25 per cent year-on-year. The major players are Harley-Davidson, Honda and Yamaha.
No comments:
Post a Comment