Motoroyale to begin CKD assembly of Italy’s FB Mondial bikes

Motoroyale, the Pune-based Kinetic Engineering’s premium motorcycle business, is all set to commence local assembly operations of Italy’s FB Mondial’s HPS 300 model at its Ahmednagar facility. The Mondial HPS 300 was launched this October with a price-tag of Rs 337,000 (ex-showroom, Pune). The motorcycle, which is powered by a single-cylinder, liquid-cooled, 250cc engine, is imported via the completely knocked down (CKD) route.

Speaking to Autocar Professional earlier today in Pune, Ajinkya Firodia, managing director, Motoroyale disclosed, “We will be inaugurating the assembly line at our Ahmednagar plant tomorrow. This will mark the commencement of the assembly operations of the FB Mondial HPS 300 motorcycle at the unit. We have already received about 100 bookings of this model.”

Motoroyale, India’s first multi-brand retail initiative in the motorcycle industry, plans to begin the deliveries of the HPS 300 from December 16 across its seven outlets.

According to Firodia, the Mondial HPS 300 sits at the bottom end in Motoroyale’s current portfolio, which only retails premium motorcycles with a price tag of more than Rs 300,000. That said, he expects the HPS 300 to garner substantial traction in the affordable premium motorcycle category.

“Given the initial response and customer feedback, we are expecting to clock sales of about 1,000 units of the Mondial HPS 300 alone within the next 12 months,” he told Autocar Professional today. 

Meanwhile, Motoroyale also plans to expand its current footprint of seven stores to 20 stores by December 2019. 

Cesare Galli, CEO, Pelpi International Srl, who has been instrumental in resurrecting the FB Mondial brand in 2014, is on his rare India visit at present. While Galli will personally attend the commencement of assembly operations of the HPS 300 tomorrow at Ahmednagar, he is also utilising his time observing and studying the premium motorcycle market here.

Expressing his keenness on India and other emerging markets, he said, “FB Mondial has a good future with Motoroyale. We don’t want to compete with any existing motorcycle brand in India or in other markets either. We want to offer very different attributes through our products and the HPS 300 serves that purpose. It is based on a hipster design language that is unconventional and unique to us. We are keen to tapping the niche opportunities in the emerging economies such as India.”

Two’s company
With such niche product positioning globally, the Italian brand currently has only two models in its portfolio – HPS 125 and HPS 300. According to Galli, the HPS 125 has turned out to be a successful model for the reviving brand. 

“We have produced more than 15,000 units of the HPS 125 for Europe and other global markets so far,” he told this publication. The 125cc Mondial bike is not planned for the local market.

Besides Europe, the company currently exports its bikes to USA, Japan, South Korea and India as prominent markets.

As the HPS 300 goes on sale in India, FB Mondial and Motoroyale are also discussing plans for the other Asian and ASEAN markets for the future.

Exploring an India-specific 250cc-500cc Mondial bike
Firodia and Galli are also conceptualising an all-new premium motorcycle for India to serve the growing 250cc-500cc market, which they call as the sweet spot. While nothing is on paper as of today, both appear to be keen on locally developing a more affordable motorcycle under the FB Mondial brand for India and similar markets.

Galli is open to sourcing components from India as well as having Motoroyale’s plant as one of its foreign motorcycle production locations in the future.

Meanwhile, Motoroyale Kinetic now has five international motorcycle brands in its portfolio: Norton, MV Agusta, FB Mondial, SMW and Hyosung.

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