Kinetic Engineering Limited is an Indian automotive manufacturer. The company was founded in the year 1972 by H. K. Firodia. Today it is an automotive component manufacturer which formerly sold two-wheelers under the brand names
Kinetic Honda
Kinetic Honda was a joint venture between Kinetic Engineering Limited, India and Honda Motor Company, Japan. Kinetic was the first company to have a joint venture with HMSI. The partnership operated from 1984 to 1998, manufacturing two-stroke s ...
and later
Kinetic Motors
Kinetic Engineering Limited is an Indian automotive manufacturer. The company was founded in the year 1972 by H. K. Firodia. Today it is an automotive component manufacturer which formerly sold two-wheelers under the brand names Kinetic Honda and l ...
. It introduced the
Kinetic Luna
Kinetic Luna is a 50 cc moped that was introduced by Kinetic Engineering in India in 1972. The Kinetic Luna continues to be produced and marketed in India. It is marketed in the USA as Kinetic TFR. A 35 cc version, the Luna Wings, was a ...
moped which sold well domestically and was exported extensively to
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, and the
USA.
Later Kinetic Engineering formed a joint venture with
Honda Motor Company to introduce Kinetic Honda scooters, which had electric start and gearless transmissions. Kinetic and Honda parted ways in 1998 when the
Firodia
Kinetic Engineering Limited is an Indian automotive manufacturer. The company was founded in the year 1972 by H. K. Firodia. Today it is an automotive component manufacturer which formerly sold two-wheelers under the brand names Kinetic Honda and l ...
s bought the majority stake of the joint venture from Honda. In 2008, Kinetic entered into a joint venture with
Mahindra Automobiles, where Mahindra held an 80% stake. By this joint venture, Mahindra acquired the two-wheeler manufacturing facilities as well as the then selling brands of Kinetic.
After ceasing two-wheeler manufacturing, Kinetic Engineering produces and exports automotive components. Kinetic Motors resumed operations in January 2011 and has announced plans to produce
electric vehicle
An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes c ...
s.
In February 2014, Kinetic sold its stake in Mahindra Two-Wheelers to
Samena Capital for 182
crore rupee
Rupee is the common name for the currencies of
India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, ...
s.
In 2015
MV Agusta
MV Agusta (, full name: MV AGUSTA Motor S.p.A., original name: Meccanica Verghera Agusta or MV) is a motorcycle manufacturer founded by Count Domenico Agusta on 19 January 1945 as one of the branches of the Agusta aircraft company near Milan in ...
entered a partnership with Kinetic Group for its Indian debut.
See also
*
H. K. Firodia Awards
H. K. Firodia Awards for excellence in science and technology are given annually by the H. K. Firodia Foundation. The awards were initiated in 1996 to recognize achievements by Indian scientists in any field of science, and aim to promote a scient ...
Notes
External links
*
{{Two wheelers in India
Motorcycle manufacturers of India
Scooter manufacturers
Companies based in Pune
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1972
1972 establishments in Maharashtra
Indian companies established in 1972