DSK-Benelli to commence operations with 9 dealerships - IAB Report

More dealerships would be opened in due course.

DSK Group's recent announcement to bring the Italian Motorcycle manufacturer Benelli to Indian shores was a welcome on. Currently the Italian firm is a part of motor Group Qianjiang, a Chinese motor corporation. Benelli is soon to launch an impressive range of motorcycles for the Indian market that are ranging from 300 cc all the way up to 1,130 cc. The machines would be brought to the country via CKD route and would be assembled by DSK MotoWheels for the country.

DSK MotoWheels earlier had made an announcement that they would be using their current assembly setup with an additional shift that would be responsible for the assembly of the Benelli motorcycles. Additionally, DSK also mentioned that the Italian brand would have its own showrooms and dealership network that would cause no overlaps with the current DSK-Hyosung JV in any way.

At a recent event, DSK confirmed that the company would be launching the Benelli brand across India in the first week January 2014. Indian Autos Blog learns that DSK Benelli would be launched with 9 dealerships initially, covering cities like Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Ahmadabad, Mumbai and Hyderabad while Pune gets a company owned outlet which has already started taking shape. There would be more cities following soon, adding more numbers to the dealer network.

Also read: Benelli BN251 unveiled at EICMA 2014

While prices for the motorcycles have not been announced yet, the twin-cylinder BN 302 would be approximately priced in the INR 3.0 lakh range and will compete with premium bikes like the Kawasaki Z250 and Kawasaki Ninja 300.