West Bengal's First and India's youngest two-wheeler maker, Global Automobiles Pvt Ltd. will produce bikes with technological help from a Chinese firm
On Feb. 15 2007, West Bengal's First Two-Wheeler Assembly line unit was inaugurated at Sugandha, some 60 km away from the city of Kolkata by the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
"..the motorcycles will be mainly marketed in the rural and semi-urban markets..."
"It will be interesting to see how these bikes would match up with the established brands in the rural/semi urban markets in India."
It is a Rs. 300-crore Joint Venture project titled "Global Automobiles Pvt Ltd." between the Xenitis Group (of India), along with Guangzhou Motors Company of China.
It will begin with three variants in the 100-125-150 cc range. Initially some 30,000 bikes (both scooters and motor cycles) are planned to be produced every month. Commercial production will commence from March 1, 2007.
Guangzhou Group of China
The Guangzhou Group founded in 1992 is one of the enterprise assigned to manufacture motorcycles in China. The group also has tie-ups with Japanese bike maker Honda.
Xenitis Group (India)
For the Xenitis group, this is a diversification into two-wheelers from making Personal Computers. The Xenitis group is the maker of the economical range of personal computers called "Apna PC".
Bikes from Guangzhou Motors which might be seen in India soon...
The last one is one of the models that has been developed with Honda
According to Mr Santanu Ghosh, CMD of Global Automobiles, the motorcycles will be mainly marketed in the rural and semi-urban markets. On the price front, discussions are still on and nothing has yet been finalized, though it is learnt that the 150 cc bikes, which resemble the powerful Honda bikes, would be competitively priced.
It will be interesting to see how these bikes would match up with the TVS STAR, Bajaj CT100 and the invincible Hero Honda CD Dawn, in the targetted rural/semi urban markets in India.
News Source: Hindu Business Line
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4 Comments:
Since its all new,they should comeup with innovative bike designs to sustain in this tough automobile indian market.isnt it?
Hi Kamal, nice to get your comment after a hiatus..
I think in order to survive, Global Automobiles
>> Will not only have to price their bikes very aggressively but also
>> Produce bikes which are of decent quality.. (In India the general opinion about the quality of Chinese made bikes are not very encouraging)
>> With the exception of TVS and Bajaj, Indian Companies like LML has shut down and Kinetic is still struggling to achive the level of Quality required to survive in this competitive environment..
So ultimately I think it boils down to Producing Bikes of Decent Quality and getting the Pricing right
It's nice that chinese bike manufacturers r entering into d Indian market. It would increase d competition. But they have 2 show their expertise in d design , technology, pricing & in marketing strategies. Giants like Bajaj,Hero Honda already have their masterpieces in d market.So, it's a tough way ahead.
Right Abhijeet,
they (Global Auto) have to find a unique proposition for their products to survive and succeed.. either in Pricing or in Features.
Also they have a huge task of matching up to the levels of quality set by Established Indian Bike Makers..
Having a Chinese partner means that the pricing can be expected to be very aggresive but it remains to be seen if they can match up to the quality levels.
Targetting the Rural Market certainly doesn't mean that rural customers will overlook the Quality..
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