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Byline: The Goan Network
Panaji
Goa welcomed yet another high-profile motorbike brand. DSK Benelli launched its first exclusive showroom in Porvorim on Thursday and launched 6 bikes with ex-showroom price from Rs 3,05,000 to Rs 12,07,000. The outlet however, started taking bookings from a couple of months ago.
The brand has launched TNT 300 (in-line two-cylinder 300cc engine), TNT 600i (in-line four-cylinder 600cc engine), TNT 600 GT (in-line four-cylinder 600cc engine), TNT 899 (in-line, three-cylinder 898cc engine) and TNT R (in-line, three-cylinder 1131cc engine)
Benelli will be competing with the likes of Ninja and KTM, which have already established themselves in this segment, in the last few years. When asked how Benelli is different from other brands, Shirish Kulkarni, Chairman, DSK Motowheels said, “Benelli bikes are top-class in terms of design, technology and far-sightedness of the product. Moreover, we are offering the most affordable bike with best features in certain segments. Consider our TNT 600i, which is an 85 bhp, 4 cylinder bike and you’re getting it at an ex-showroom price of Rs 5.5 lakh. No other two-wheel manufacturer can offer you these features at this price”.
Benelli, an Italian brand that forayed into the Indian market before almost a century, has been quite successful in the country.
Since March this year, when the brand was launched, it has sold more than 750 bikes in the country and has 1,400 bookings at the moment. Overall size of superbikes markets in India, put together all brands, is 15,000 units. Kulkarni added, “We are aiming at selling 8-10 bikes in Goa per month”
The service centre of the brand is next to the showroom in Porvorim. The service and spare parts availability of motorbikes in Goa is worse than national average. When asked how Kulkarni will make sure that such issues don’t happen with Benelli, he replied, “At the dealer level, we insist on maintaining an inventory of 1.5 months’ requirement for fast moving items. In case, a customer needs a not-so-fast-moving-item, we will make sure to make that available in 7-10 days”
The craze for brand Benelli is evident in Goa from the fact that there are already 24 bookings for the brand in just two months of its showroom’s opening.
