Benelli Drops Plan to Set Up Manufacturing Plant in India

The recent updates coming from the Italian motorcycle manufacturer Benelli aren’t very pleasing for the Indian market as the brand has dropped the idea to set up a manufacturing plant in the country. The decision from the company is a result of currently changing trends in India where an acute shift has been witnessed from combustion engines to electrically driven vehicles.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways also recently notified in an interview that they are going to ban sub-150cc two-wheelers with combustion engines by 2025. Owing to all these events, the Italian brand has been forced to take back the decision.

Benelli was planning something huge for India as it was going to set up a global hub in the country similar to the one that resides in China. The managing director of Benelli India, Vikas Jhabakh notified Economic Times in an interview – “We were considering making mass-market bikes also from here to export to other markets”. The company was planning to bring products with an engine displacement under 150cc like the TNT 150 and the Caffenero 150 scooter.

The planned manufacturing plant was expected to have a production capacity of 200,000 units in a year to make a business case and would have working manpower of around 400 people. The company made all these speculations in its initial stages of studies.

Following the Government’s keen determination to ban combustion engine in the coming years, the company did not find the plan fit for its business. The company’s Managing Director also said – “And keeping in mind the vision of the government, setting up manufacturing is not a viable option because these are projects that take a really long time to pay back.”

Benelli recently launched the Leoncino 500 in India, and the brand is now planning to launch two new 250cc bikes namely TRK 251 and the Leoncino 250, that will be entering the market in competition with Eicher Motor-owned Royal Enfield that already has a 93% market share.