The Iconic Brand started as a joint venture between Kinetic Engineering Limited in India and the world-renowned Honda Motor Company based in Japan. Kinetic was the first company to have a deal with Honda in India. They started manufacturing two-stroke scooters in India, which were revolutionary!

 

The Success

The year was 1984 when Kinetic entered the market with their first model Kinetic DX. The scooter had a two-stroke 98cc engine that cranked out 7.7 Bhp of power at 5600 rpm. The DX model was based on Honda’s highly successful NH100 scooter.

This was a premium offering by Kinetic and at the time was a revolutionary vehicle in India. It was a gearless, lightweight scooter targeted toward Older people, women, and young teens. Dueto the lightweight nature of the scooter, it was easy to handle.

Now, Compared to the models now or even then, the engine was crude, the mileage figures were bad and prices were high, but despite these flaws, Kinetic scooters became renowned for their electric-start and gearless system. The space in the front was huge; kids were often seen standing in the front, acting like tiny heroes when the adults drove.

It became a hit among families, teens, and college-going kids, which meant the sales of the scooter rose steadily.

It featured in ads, and movies and was seen everywhere! The market demand was in favor of the Kinetic Honda Brand. In fact, in 1995, Kinetic Marvel was honored with the Scooter Of The Year award!

 

The Decline

Although Everything was hunky dory, in the beginning, the glory days of the Kinetic Honda Brand came to an end quickly.

The poor quality of vehicles, decline in sales, and demand led to a falling out between the Kinetic group and Honda Corp, Honda wanted to buy the Kinetic brand’s stake to enter the Indian Market, improve the vehicle quality and introduce technology in two-wheelers. Kinetic, on the other hand, was not interested in selling its stake to Honda. Due to this, Honda called off the partnership and went on to do a successful collaboration with Hero Group.

 

When Honda Left. Kinetic was suddenly faced with the question. What Now?

 

Faced with an Uncertain Future,

Kinetic didn’t give up at first. they had a plethora of products, which they aggressively tried to push by slashing the prices, promoting them widely, and giving attractive offers. Butin the end, all these enticing offers did not work and the products failed in terms of sales.

The Kinetic company’s product range then became limited to only mopeds and scooters.

Kinetic tried to salvage its reputation. They launched newer models such as Pride, Marvel, Nova, and Zing, which did not result in success for the company.

Kinetic was failing. When Honda pulled out of the joint venture, Kinetic’s technology didn’t improve, and consumers felt they paid a lot for something that had a name but no substance.

 

To make matters worse for Kinetic another phenomenon started capturing the two-wheeler market, 4 stroke motorcycles were being preferred for their better mileage, smoother engines, and value for money, bikes such as CD 100, splendor, and caliber took over the market.

Companies such as Hero Honda and TVS Suzuki started making 4-stroke products which gave better engine performance and efficient mileage. All These offerings started affecting the sales of KineticBrand.

 

They tried to make inroads in the Motorbiking Genre by launching a super expensive bike called Aquila in collaboration with Hyosung Motors.

Although, Aquila briefly raised Kinetic’s popularity.

 

But it did sustain its popularity in comparison to a barrage of offerings by other competitors.

Eventually, Losses and poor sales meant, Hyosung and Kinetic Partnership broke off which led to a halting in Kinetic’s recovery as a Brand.

 

Kinetic, however, tried to fight till the end. They released Italiano scooters and Flyte, and both of them failed miserably. Seeing their beloved company fall so severely, Kinectic’s Management decided to sell the company to Mahindra and Mahindra in 2008. After keeping the Kinetic brand name for some time, they eventually dropped the brand name Kinetic, due to which the Kinetic Brand name became obsolete.

 

With this, the fate of the one of most Iconic Companies of the ’80s and ’90s came to a sad end, the rise of 4-stroke motorcycles combined with their product failures led to the eventual demise of Kinetic Brand.

 

All said and done, we cannot forget the OG scooter Brand, which introduced gearless scooters in India, the highest-selling category of the future.

Due to the efforts of the Kinetic Brand, the Indian Two-wheeler landscape was changed forever.

It surely would be missed!