Benelli’s previous partner, the DSK Group ran into serious financial trouble last year, forcing the bike maker to shut shop in India. The Chinese-owned Italian company is now back, it recently announced a tie up with Hyderabad-based Mahavir Group. It is a strategic partnership between Benelli QJ and Adishwar Auto Ride India (AARI) – a new company floated under the Mahavir Group umbrella.
They are currently setting up an assembly plant on the outskirts of Hyderabad under an MOU with the Telangana government. The plant will see bikes assembled from CKD kits. The three-acre plant is expected to be operational by October 2018.
Mahavir-AARI will handle the sales, service and spare parts availability entirely for the Indian operations. The company will now only be branded as ‘Benelli’ and will not have the Indian partner in the name, like it used to in the case of DSK-Benelli.
The new assembly plant can produce 7,000 units per year in a single shift and can be scaled up to make 10,000 units per year.
