We were the first ones to tell you about Kinetic’s plan of bringing in more premium motorcycle brands to India. Speedy Working Motors (SWM) motorcycles might be the second Italian brand Kinetic will bring to India.
The Pune-based manufacturer is currently doing a feasibility study to understand if there is a market for SWM products. This Italian bike company was founded in 1971 but production ceased in 1984. However, with the help of a Chinese company, the Shineray Group, SWM was resurrected and the development of new bikes began.
Kinetic is interested in launching two SWM motorcycles for now– the Gran Milano and the Silver Vase. The former is a café racer whereas the latter is a scrambler. Both the bikes are built around the same single steel tube with double cradle frame and are powered by the same 445cc single-cylinder engine. While the Italian company feels that there is a good market for its bikes in India, Kinetic isn’t sure about the pricing. Importing these bikes as completely-built-up(CBU) units will attract hefty duties. So the only way to sell the SWM bikes are via completely-knocked-down (CKD) route. However, both the companies aren’t able to come to a price point that will make these products desirable (between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh). The only way to get to the right pricing is if some of the components are made in India.
If Kinetic decides to sell SWM bikes, it will be sold through their Motoroyale showrooms. The company will assemble the SWM bikes at their Ahmednagar plant where it is already assembling the MV Agusta F3 800 via semi-knocked-down (SKD) route. The SWM bikes will compete with Royal Enfield and UM bikes in the Indian market.
Stay tuned to BikeWale as we get you more details on this Italian brand.
