After China’s largest car maker SAIC and SUV maker Great Wall, now one of country’s largest electric two wheeler maker Aima Technology Group is looking to get a foothold in India through a collaboration with Kinetic Green in which the latter will locally manufacture scooters jointly designed and developed by the two companies.
Through this the maker of iconic Luna and Kinetic Honda is planning to make a comeback into the mainstream two-wheeler market and that too in an electric avatar.
As part of the technical collaboration, Aima will assist Kinetic Green in localising its products for the Indian market. This will cut down the time to market for the Indian company to a fraction of the 2-3 years it usually takes and it will launch three electric scooters from the collaboration this year itself, said Sulajja Firodia Motwani, the founder and CEO of Kinetic Green.
The two companies are also exploring setting up a joint venture company down the line, Firodia Motwani said.
Priced between under Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh, the scooters will be sold under the Kinetic Green brand but Aima’s name will also be acknowledged on the vehicles. They will address the commuter, premium as well as delivery segments. The partners have also explored launching co-branded models in the future, including bringing new global brands to India.
“We won’t be importing and selling. The models will be FAME-compliant from day 1,” the Kinetic Green CEO told ET. Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric (and hybrid) vehicles (FAME) is the Centre’s flagship EV promotion scheme that provides subsidies to vehicles made in India.
The company is looking to ramp up its production capacity to 500,000 units a year in the next 24 months. This is in-line with the electric two-wheeler industry where the relatively lower investment required to set up manufacturing lines has seen manufacturers set large capacities in anticipation of a boom in demand.
“Aima has witnessed India’s great potential in green mobility,” Su Yuhang, President of Aima Technology Group said in a press statement. “India will always be Aima’s strategic priority for global investment to cater the need of green and smart mobility.”
The Chinese company has over 1,000 models in its portfolio across electric two, three and four-wheelers. It operates in 87 countries and has sold over 50 million electric two-wheelers so far, as per a press statement.
Kinetic Green is a leading manufacturer of electric three-wheelers and only recently entered the electric two-wheeler market with two models. The company is also working on reviving the Luna brand in an electric avatar. With e-Luna and the three models from Aima collaboration, Kinetic Green is looking to have six models in its portfolio by the end of this year.
It has a network of around 150 dealers for two-wheeler sales and the company is looking to ramp that up to 500 in the next couple of years, Firodia Motwani said.
While Aima is looking to enter the country through technical collaboration, SAIC and Great Wall have entered India through fully-owned subsidiaries. However, geopolitical tensions between India and China in the recent past have put several regulatory hurdles for them. Most notably, a clampdown on all investments coming from neighbouring countries, which means Chinese companies need to get special clearance from New Delhi before infusing any capital in Indian business.
