Aamar mobike?
Xenitis will soon launch a sub-20k motorbike.
Five years ago, when the Kolkata-based Xenitis Group launched a personal computer for less than Rs 10,000, it created quite a ripple. Aamar PC (which, in Bengali, means, “My PC”), launched first in West Bengal and then nationwide, last year notched up sales of Rs 620 crore. Now, Xenitis wants to do an Aamar motorbike.
On November 7, the group launched a four-stroke motorcycle priced at a rock-bottom Rs 19,990, 50 per cent cheaper than the hitherto cheapest four-stroke mobike in the market. That price may prove to be a winner. Even before the new motorcycle was launched, the company says it booked firm orders for 1.6 lakh bikes.
“We’ve all along positioned our company as makers of common man’s products; the latest move has been quite in line with that,” says Santanu Ghosh, Xenitis Group’s Chairman. The two-wheelers are made by Global Automobiles, a joint veure between Xenitis and China’s Guangzhou Motors, which may partly explain how the company can retail its bikes at the sub-20K price point. Already export orders have poured in from Iran, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, says Ghosh, whose Global Automobiles has a technology transfer tie-up with Guangzhou Motors of China.
Christened Rock100, the 110-cc bike promises an average of 125 km per litre and has been developed indigenously. The Chinese partner, however, brings to the table the technical know how to put up the plant and spares and components to assemble its existing range—Xpressions and Xpression Plus. The four-stroke engine bikes come with electronic self-starters as well as a kick-start facility, tachometer, gear indicator, aerodynamic headlight with halogen bulb, sporty indicators and other bells and whistles. Global Automobiles’ manufacturing facility at Sugandha in Hooghly district can turn out 3.6 lakh bikes a year.
Xenitis, which hopes to touch sales of Rs 1,000 crore this year for its infotech business, expects its two-wheeler business to generate Rs 450 crore in the first year and Rs 1,000 crore in the second year of operation. “Our plan is to make it a Rs 5,000-crore group by 2010,” says an upbeat Ghosh.
Are Indian two-wheeler majors worried? Says S. Sridhar, Chief Executive Officer (Two-Wheelers), Bajaj Auto: “At Rs 20,000, getting the quality right will be a difficult task. More importantly, consumers don’t just buy a brand, they also buy into an established service and parts network and a certain degree of reliability. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, because I doubt the person spending Rs 20,000 on a bike will just use and throw it.” Can Xenitis do with mobikes what it did successfully with computers? It will make for interesting watching.
