Pune: Italian super-bike maker MV Agusta, known as the Ferrari of the bike world, today entered the country with three of its iconic models through a distribution tie-up with the city-based Kinetic Group.
Started originally in 1923 as Meccanica Verghera Agusta, an offshoot of Agusta Aviation Company, which is embroiled in a controversy for a bribery scandal related to the Rs 3,600- crore VVIP chopper deal, the company has seen change of ownership over the years. In 1945, MV Agusta was founded as a motorcycle company by Vincenzo Agusta and Domenico Agusta. At an entry price of Rs 16.78 lakh (for MV Agusta F3-800) and going up to Rs 50.10 lakh (for F4 RR 1000-cc), ex-showroom Pune, these bikes are probably the costliest racing bikes being sold in the country now.
Kinetic has set up a separate company, MV Agusta India, and a distribution brand called Motoroyale by Kinetic, to sell the bikes which will compete with Triumph, Ducati, Benelli and Kawasaki which are in the range of Rs 6 lakh to Rs 34 lakh.
The Italian company does not consider Harley Davidson as its competition as these premium American bikes are not primarily cruising models and not for racing. The Verese, Milan-based MV Agusta makes the world’s most premium high-performance superbikes, known for handcrafted designs and extremely powerful engines which are 3- and 4-cylinders, making them as good as a car engine. “We hope to sell at least 300 units by December and corner at least 5 % of the 7,000-units a year superbikes market in the country. We have already sold 8 units. Our target is to corner 10 % of the market over the next three years when the market is expected to hit 20,000 units per annum,” MV Agusta India MD Ajinkya Firodia told PTI.
