DSK Motowheels to launch 135-cc bike by March

\ Vadodara, Oct 27 (PTI) Premium two-wheeler player DSK\Motowheels will launch a 135-cc minibike by March 2017 to tap\the volume market, a senior company official said today.\ DSK Benelli Chairman Shirish Kulkarni said the proposed\bike may cost Rs 1.3-Rs 1.5 lakh.\ \\"We are busy completing the formalities, including trial,\before commercially launching a 135-cc minibike by Marchext,\\" he said speaking after opening DSK Benelli\\’s first\showroom here.\ The company, which has a collaboration with Italy\\’s\superbike maker Benelli, has a Rs 350-crore manufacturing\facility at Talegaon near Pune with an installed capacity of\50,000 units per annum.\ The company, which started selling Benelli bikes earlier\this year, aims to sell around 3,000 motorcycles this year. It\also aims to sell around 2,500 Hyosung bikes during the\period.\ It currently sells five Hyosung superbikes, ranging\between 250cc and 700cc, priced between Rs 2.84 lakh and Rs\5.99 lakh, ex-showroom Delhi.\ \\"Together, we plan to sell around 5,500 bikes this\year. The imported superbikes market is estimated to grow to\around 15,000-20,000 units this year,\\" Kulkarni said.\ It also sells seven Benelli models, including TNT 25,\a 300 cc bike, two 600 cc models, one 899 cc bike TNT R and\TNT R Gold, priced between Rs. 1.84 lakh and Rs. 12.86 lakh.\ The company aims to have around 30 dealerships by\March, up from 21 outlets now.\ On capex, he said the company plans to invest over Rs\100 crore in the next five years for expansion of plant as \\"we\target to capture 60 per cent of the superbikes market in the\country\\".\ DSK Motowheels and DSK Benelli are part of diversified\conglomerate DSK Group, which has presence in business\verticals such as construction, auto, IT, education, pharma,\hospitality, tours & travels and digital products, among\others. PTI COR BEN RSY\MKJ\SRE\