Kinetic group chairman Arun Firodia with Italjet founder Leopoldo Tartarini in Mumbai on Monday. (PTI)

Mumbai Jan. 12: The Kinetic group has acquired the rights to sell scooters from Italy’s Italjet.

Announcing the tie-up, Kinetic group chairman Arun Firodia said: “Italy is the birthplace of scooters and Tartarini’s creations have been hailed as breakthrough designs worldwide. I believe we have pulled off a coup of sorts by acquiring the domestic as well as international rights for seven of Italjet's bestselling scooters.

The scooter models, ranging from 75 cc to 250 cc, comprises retro, modern, futuristic and maxiscooter designs, the company said.

The tie-up with the $50-million design house will enable the Kinetic group to compete with Honda, its former partner.

The alliance will help the Pune-based group gain an edge over Bajaj Auto and the Hero group who are currently drawing fresh strategies in the scooter segment.

This year, Bajaj Auto is expected to launch scooters with latest designs. The Hero group has recently tied up with Aprilia, an Italian two-wheeler company, for its foray into the scooter segment.

The company described the tie-up as “a strategic move aimed at asserting its dominance on the modern scooters category”.

Kinetic has acquired complete manufacturing and distribution rights for seven brands from Italjet’s range of scooters. These rights include sale in India as well as global exports.

The scooters are expected to be launched in a phased manner over the next two years.

Under the agreement, Italjet founder Leopoldo Tartarini will also design scooters especially for Kinetic.

He has also designed scooters and motorcycles for many of the world’s leading two-wheeler companies, including Ducati, Gilera, Piaggio and Yamaha.

In the past few years, the modern scooters category in the country has been posting high growth rates. It has reached 7.5 to 8 lakh a year, whereas geared scooters sell about four lakh a year. Firodia expects this number to grow to 20 lakh a year over the next six years.

Kinetic’s exports will also get an impetus, Firodia added.

Kinetic revolutionised the scooter segment when it launched the automatic scooter in 1984. Currently, the company’s scooters range from 75 cc to 115 cc engines. Its popular brand names include Nova, Zoom and Zing.