Kinetic group gears up for Tatas' Rs 1-lakh car

Two-wheeler manufacturer Kinetic group has been mandated as a vendor for gear boxes for the Rs 1-lakh car by Tata Motors.

Kinetic Motors Joint Managing Director Sulajja Firodia told mediapersons that the company had received a letter of intent and a purchase order for gear boxes from Tata Motors.

Though she did not disclose the volumes, she said the Tatas might produce 300,000 units a year.

Sulajja said gear boxes would be produced by the group company, Kinetic Engineering, which shifted its focus from the two-wheeler market to auto components. "The Tata Motors order will generate Rs 75 crore business for the company," Sulajja added.

Kinetic Engineering would supply both manual and variomatic gear boxes for the Tatas' car, she said, adding that the gear boxes would be produced at Kinetic's Ahmednagar unit and at the new unit in the Tatas' vendor park in Singur.

Sulajja said the company had already invested Rs 50 crore on the plants at both the locations.

She said with the order from the Tatas, the company's plans for passenger four-wheelers would advance further.

"We have been making components for two- and three-wheelers and commercial four-wheelers but stayed away from the passenger four-wheeler segment as the approval processes tend to be longer and margins lower," she said.

Now the company is prepared to meet the challenges posed by the passenger car boom in the country, she said, and added that the company was also looking at the opportunities globally.

Kinetic's alliance with the Tatas began in March this year when it started making gear boxes for Tata 407 truck and the recently launched Winger, Sulajja said.