A Project Report On To Understand the Present Scenario and Scope for Battery Operated Vehicle.

For Kinetic Motor Company Ltd.

By Nagesh S. Adagale (Batch - 2007-09)

Under the guidance of Dr. SHAILESH KASANDE

Submitted To UNIVERSITY OF PUNE In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Through VISHWAKARMA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, PUNE-48

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am highly indebted to Kinetic Motor Company Ltd. Pune for giving me an opportunity to do the project in their company. This experience at the beginning of my career will be a very important step towards being a successful manager. There have been many hearts and brains supporting and guiding me in this project. I would like to thank Mr. Sachin Bhaiya (Asst manager Marketing Dept) Pune for giving me the necessary insight in my study and guiding me in my project. I take this opportunity to express my deep sense of gratitude and respect to my internal project guide Dr. Shailesh Kasande, without whose constant guidance, it would not have been possible to complete the project. Lastly I would like to thank my family, colleagues and friends for boosting my confidence and helping me throughout the project.

Nagesh S. Adagale

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter .no

TITLE

Page. no

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Executive Summary Company Profile Objective and scope Research Methodology Data Analysis and Interpretation Findings Recommendations Conclusion Limitations Questionnaire Bibliography

1 3 10 13 18 29 31 34 36 38 42

Chapter 1

Executive summary

Executive Summery:
The project is to understand the present scenario of the battery operated vehicle which is available in the market and the scope for the Battery Operated Vehicle. As the company Kinetic Motor Company Ltd is entering into manufacturing of Battery Operated Vehicle. With this primary objective, I conducted the market research under the guidance of respected sir, Mr. Sachin Bhaiya (Marketing Dept) in Pune City. While doing the project I came to know about customer behavior and the strategies that company use while launching a new product. The Consumer Response and experience to Electric Bike were taken into account to analyze the scope for the new battery operated vehicle. The data collected during the project was both primary and secondary in nature. The primary data was collected by direct interaction with the costumers with help of a Questionnaire. The analysis was carried out on the basis of the information obtained from questionnaire. The secondary data was collected from sources like the internet, reference books, company magazines etc. After completing the research we come to the conclusion that there is more space for Electric bike in this market. Some of the existing products are been launched in the market without proper research & development which require complete gap between customers expectations & the returns on the investment made by the customers. The product in the market had wide scope of improvement. Hence we understood the views, perceptions & the satisfaction level of the Customers of the present E-bike Owners in Pune city.

Chapter 2

Company Profile

Company Profile:
KINETIC ENGINEERING LTD

The Kinetic as a company and as a group. The Kinetic Group of companies is a leading player in the automotive industry in India. Kinetic Group, founded in 1974, has sold over 6 million vehicles in India. It has a history of innovation and pioneering and has introduced several new concepts that have revolutionized the two wheeler industry. Kinetic brought the concept of personalized transport to India with the launch of the moped Luna in 1974. In 1984, it brought to the Indian customers the first-ever gearless scooter which has come to symbolize comfort, convenience and universal appeal. It has also brought to India new technologies such as four valve engines, electric start on scooters and motorcycles, v- twin engines, USD forks etc. It is the only company to offer top-end world class bikes Comet and Aquila to Indian bike enthusiasts. The group has an international technical collaborations with Hyosung Motors of Korea It has three state of the art manufacturing facilities at Koregaon Bhima, Ahmednagar and Pithampur; and a nationwide network of nearly 450 dealers and over 1,000 service centers. The company exports vehicles to developed countries like USA, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Middle East and South Asia and has won several excellence awards for exports on state and national level. Current popular brand names include

Luna, Nova 135, Zing, Velocity, Boss, Aquila, Comet. The company is preparing to launch some very exciting Italian designs over the next two years. Founder Year of Establishment Industry Business Group Listings & its codes Late Shri. H.K. Firodia 1974 Two-wheelers Kinetic Group NSE Kinetic Engineering Ltd: KINETICENG Kinetic Motor Company Limited: KINETICMOT Kinetic Motor Company Ltd.: KINHONDA BSE Kinetic Engineering Ltd.: 500240 Kinetic Motor Company Ltd.: 505190 Kinetic Trust Ltd.: 531274 D-1 Block, Plot No. 18/2, MIDC Chinchwad, Pune 411 019 Tel.: +(91)-(20)-27474301to 5 Fax: +(91)-(20)-27475842 to 3 E-mail: jane@kineticindia.com

Contact Details

Chairman : Mr. Arun Firodia

Mr. Arun Firodia is the founder and Chairman of the Kinetic Group of companies and one of the most respected industrialists in India. He is widely acknowledged as a visionary technocrat with strong patriotic values. His wide-ranging initiatives have formed an exemplary and diverse lifetime body of work.

Sulajja Firodia Motwani is the Joint Managing Director of Kinetic Engineering Ltd. She is also a Director of Kinetic Motor Company Limited and Kinetic Marketing Services Limited. She is responsible for the group's overall business strategy, sales and marketing, and business development activities.

Products

Brands

Motorcycles

Premium Motorcycles Comet Sporty Motorcycles GF Laser Commuter Motorcycles Stryker GF 125

Aquila GF 170 City Boss 115 Boss EX

Velocity

Scooters Family Scooters Blaze 4s Nova 135 Kinetic SYM Flyte Scooterettes Kine

Zoom Nova EX Nova

Zing 80

Utility Vehicles

Load carrying Vehicles V2 Economical and Fun Luna

King

Kinetic, in addition to two-wheeler range, develops customized products for certain countries. Some of the customized products are mentioned below:

Electric scooter Go kart Children's bikes Modified scooters for the disabled Delivery vehicles Police vehicles Emergency medical assistance vehicles

The following are the achievements of Kinetic: 1. Presently, Kinetic vehicles are sold in more than 40 countries including North America, Europe, Australia, Central America, South America, Africa, Middle East and Asia. 2. More than 150, 000 vehicles are exported. 25,000 vehicles exported to USA. 3. Kinetic is the winner of 14 Exports Excellence awards on state and national level including the prestigious national trophy for top export performance. 4. Have assembly lines in many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. 5. Kinetic is the first Indian company to attempt an affordable "People's car" that would provide comfortable transport to the India's middle class. The car, titled City Car with a 500cc engine was developed in collaboration with a French company AXIOM right up to prototype and showcased at the Delhi Auto Expo where it received a very good response. Unfortunately the Central Government

did not grant decision on reduction in excise duty (Kinetic had sought duty lowering from 40% to 16%) which made the car cost prohibitive 6. Kinetic is a household brand name in India, with over 6 million vehicles sold over 30 years 7. Kinetic was the first to launch many path-breaking initiatives such as: 8. personalize transport through Luna o gearless scooter o electric start on two wheelers o 4 stroke 125cc motorcycle o 4 valve engines o digital gear indicators on motorcycles o side stand indicators o celebrity endorsements - Sachin Tendulkar, Azharuddin, Smita Patil and Shabana Azmi have endorsed the Kinetic Luna 9. Kinetic exports around the world and has won several exports excellence awards at state and national level. Kinetic Luna was the first Indian two wheeler to be exported to the US. With over 25,000 exported over several years, it is a well known brand in the US and many other countries in the world. An American photojournalist chose the Luna as his mode of transport for a cross country moped expedition. 10. Kinetic is the first Indian company to buy out the majority stake holding by a MNC Joint Venture partner (it bought out Honda Motor's controlling stake in the

joint venture Kinetic Honda in 1998, creating history and setting precedent for others) 11. Kinetic is the first Indian automotive company to buy out product range and production lines from an European two wheeler company (In 2004, Kinetic acquired rights and production lines to seven bestselling scooters from Italian manufacturer Italjet

Chapter 3

Objective of the study

Objective of the Project:

Primary Objective:i. To understand the views, perceptions of the Customers of the E-bike Owners in Pune city. ii. This research work has been done in order to analyze the attitude, response and acceptance level of the customer towards manufacturing of E-bike. iii. iv. Awareness, source of information The understand the views of the customer with respect to sales and Service Experience of Product performance. Secondary Objective:The secondary objective of this project is to understand requirement of the customer regarding the electric bike the factors are as follow Mileage Speed Battery charging Battery life All these factors are taken into consideration to know the requirement of the customer and are they satisfied with the existing performance of their E-bike.

Scope of the Project:

As the company has decided to launch new battery operated vehicle in the market they require in depth knowledge of present scenario of the existing market and the present performance of E-bike. It will help the company to understand need & heed of the customer .They will improve the product by reducing the problems which the customers are facing Scope of this project is as follow, i. ii. iii. To get information regarding the current market for the E-bike. To get the detail about product position in the mind of the consumer. To get the detail about the competitors position in the market.

Chapter 4

Research Methodology

Research Methodology:
The methodology is basically the set of rules, procedures, tools, and techniques used by the researcher for realization of research objective. The process of designing research study involves many interrelated decisions. The most significant decision is the choice of research approach. This determines how the information will obtain. My research is more of Descriptive Research. It is Qualitative as well as quantitative type of Research.

Research Process:For assessing the customer response following market research process followed Step 1: Define the objective: First step is defining the objective i.e. Market Research of E-bike in Pune for Kinetic motor Company Ltd. Step 2: Develop research plan: The second step was to develop the most efficient plan for gathering the needed information. i) Data sources: Both primary & secondary data are taken into consideration. Primary data are data gathered from customer experience of their e-bike, secondary data is collected from website and Research project. ii) Research approach: I have mainly collected the primary data through survey & few observations. The in-depth interviews were conducted qualitative approach to get the depth of the objective by meeting existing customers of all the present market drivers in this Segment of the vehicle. iii) Research instrument: Questionnaire is used to collect most of the Primary data.

Step 3: Designing the Questionnaire A questionnaire for the customer was designed which aimed at sourcing out the information fulfilling the objectives of the project. Step 4: Sample Design After doing on the research approach and instruments, the marketing researcher must design a sampling plan. This calls for three decisions: Sample plan: After deciding on the research instruments I decided sampling plan. Sampling unit: Who is to be surveyed? The marketing researcher must define the target population that will be sampled. Once the sampling unit is determined, a sampling frame must be developed so that everyone in the target population has an equal or known chance of being sampled. Project was concentrated on Customers such as student younger people, women and small businesses agencies as a sampling unit Sample size: How many people should be surveyed? Large samples give more reliable results than small samples. Samples of less than 1% of a population can often provide good reliability, with a credible sampling procedure. The sample size of the project was 40 peoples. Sampling procedure: How should the respondent be chosen? To obtain a representative sample, a probability sample of the population should be drawn. Contact methods: Once the sampling plan has been determined, the marketing researcher must decide how the subject should be contacted: mail, telephone, personal. Contacted: For some interviews customers were been interviewed at the venue Hotel Ashish Plaza near M.G road, Pune and some interviews were conducted the places suggested by the customers according their convenience.

Step 5: Collect the information: Data collection phase of the marketing research generally was the most Time consuming period. In case of survey few problems arise likewise some respondents may not give all the detail information and might not be available and must be contacted or replaced. Others refused to co-operate and finally some respondents will be biased or dishonest to share Information Step 6: Analyze the information: The collected information needs to be analyzed thoroughly to extract the findings that would be useful to the company. Step 7: Present the findings: And the last step is present the findings that are relevant to the objectives. Method of data collection: 1) Secondary Data collection The data was collected through Internet, magazines and journals. Secondary data can be collected quickly and inexpensively, compared to primary data. Secondary data is already available and can be obtained much faster and at a fraction of the cost of collecting them again. Secondary data can be used as the source of information to solve the problem they must be relevant, accurate, and sufficient. The major sources of secondary data are; Auto Magazines News Paper Internet, Company websites Observation advertisement.

2) Primary Data collection:

The major source for collecting primary data is by taking response from the customer. Some interviews were been interviewed at the venue and some were conducted the places. The customers were mostly who are having small businesses, trader, students. And most of the time these vehicles are been used by the younger people. Almost all the vehicle owners are having all kinds of two wheelers vehicles & have purchased this vehicle as a second vehicle for sundry work.

Chapter 5

Data Analysis

Data Analysis:
The extensive data collected through the questionnaires was evaluated to arrive at the market size, market potential of the electric bike. Following are the aspects by which there has been need of eco-friendly & economic vehicle electric bike which will cater the need of the people. i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. The inflation in petrol price. The increase in cost of ownership of two wheelers on petrol. The frequent strike of petrol pumps owners. The growing pollution problem. The noise pollution. Traffic problems due to growing no of vehicles & bad road conditions.

Current Features Available: The vehicles which are driving the market are some how successful in catering the need of the customer because of the following features. 1. The vehicle available is running electricity. 2. It is easy to use. 3. Eco-friendly. 4. No- requirement of petrol with that no pollution problem. 5. No noise pollution. 6. Light weight, so easily controllable. 7. Low cost of ownership since there are no consumables been used in this.

8. Battery charging is convenient at convenient places like home, work place. Long term benefits is the vehicle cost get recovered within 2 year as compared to the cost of petrol vehicles. 9. Low speed perceived as life saving & less fatal in case of accidents 10. No need to have license, adds to tension free driving. Prime Expectations When Purchased: The customer when purchased the battery operated vehicle has some prime expectation for the vehicle these factors are given as below: 1. The economy of fuel. 2. Vehicles available are giving mileage in range of 50-80 km/charging, Cost comes to Rs.8/charging 3. Low running cost 4. The vehicle is easy to control. 5. The vehicle capacity to carry at least 80-100 Kg weight. 6. The vehicle gives uniform speed level at each level of the Battery 7. The vehicle giving speed of 30km/hr 8. The vehicle runs on all kinds of road conditions such as inclined, declined and rough roads. 9. Full charging of battery in 6-8 hours.

The responses taken from the customer are on the factors such as what mileage they are receiving from their e-bike, what is the speed, what is the pickup, what is the running cost, what are the major problems they are having with their e-bike. The details of each customer according to the model as given and the interpretation from these data is systematically elaborated as follow 1. Hero Electric Bike i. Mileage- It is gives mileage of 40-50/charging the satisfaction level is moderate ii. iii. iv. Pickup- It is good, but poor with pillion rider Speed- The speed of this vehicle is not as good as expected Running cost-The running cost of the vehicle is high as there are frequent repairing problems v. Having frequent repairs, benefits are less

Major Problems: a. Controlling assembly burns frequently b. While charging there is serious problem of fuse off c. The liners give problems. d. Brake wire breaks frequently e. Brake wiring is complicated INTERPRETATION: The interpretation from the above information, some improvements and changes are needed these factors are elaborated as follow: i. Wire controls should not be complicated currently wires are very complicated.

ii. iii. iv. v. vi.

Controller should be stronger; loading capacity should be more, Pick up has to be improved; spare parts should have less cost, Stand is not good it hurts the leg, spacing should be more Charging should be quicker. Headlight focus should be more.

2. Yo- Bike i. ii. iii. Mileage-It is very good in mileage its average is ranging 50-70km/charging Pickup-It is good but there should be improvement. Speed-It is good as the company has given 30 & it is giving ranging from2530. iv. v. Running cost-It is very less its nice. Benefits compared to cost is good

Major Problems of Yo bike are : a. Wheel size has to improve it should be bigger. b. Tyres burst frequently & tyre comes out which should not happen. c. Battery vibrates more while driving. d. The stand is weak e. It is having fiber body, it can get damaged easily f. Headlight bulb is very weak at focus g. There is no space for leg, h. Speed setting is not proper.

INTERPRETATION: The interpretation from the above information, some improvements and changes are needed these factors are elaborated as follow: i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. Electronic speedometer should be available, Brakes should be soft and urgent Tyre width should be more, so puncture will not happen, Foot guard has to be provided Battery should be below seat Charging time should be less, Head light should have more power, Tyres should be like Activa or Scooty, it should be tube less.

3. ACE E-Trendy Electric Scooter- I i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. Mileage-Its is having good mileage Pickup- Its good. Speed-Its good Running cost-It is less Benefits compared to cost.-Its good Tyres are very small, gets punchered easily Horn is weak. Suspension is poor Brakes are weak.

INTERPRETATION: The interpretation from the above information, some improvements and changes are needed these factors are elaborated as follow: i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. Starting pick up has to be improve Tubeless tyre have to be provided to such vehicle Suspension should be good Horn voice should be louder Brake performance should be improved Charging capacity has to be minimum 70 Km/charging Foot guard has to be provided

4. Matrix i. ii. iii. iv. v. Mileage-It is average, there is no speedometer available, cannot understand Pickup-Pick up is average when it is single but with load it is very bad Speed-It is good but it should be more Running cost-It is less. Only few repair problems Benefits compared to cost.-Average

Major Problems of Matrix are: a. Fuse gets off b. It takes more time to charge battery, it takes 12 hrs. c. Seat should be more weight, d. Stand should be somewhat lower and strong,

INTERPRETATION: The interpretation from the above information which the customer had given, some improvements and changes are needed these factors are elaborated as follow: i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. Shock absorber should be good. There is irritating noise coming out at the time of application of the brakes Stand should be somewhat lower and strong. Mirror should be at greater height, and of more length. Head Light should be powerful. Electronic Speedometer should be there. Foot guard has to be provided Ground level of the vehicle should be improved by 2 feet

Brand Association with New Product. 1. In this research when asked about the entry of new vehicle having speed of 40 km/hr every one was facing the need gap of that & was ready to accept that vehicle provided it comes with the least problems mentioned by them. 2. Registration was welcomed by all. 3. Regarding License there was mixed opinion, there should be discipline while driving where as few said it makes way for traffic police to get bribe from then unnecessarily in spite of low speed & Eco-Friendly nature of the Vehicle. 4. The customers were eager to know the name of the manufacturer who is coming with this kind of vehicle. 5. But when asked to give their opinion on that, Bajaj & Kinetic were the favorite companies for them to have this kind of vehicle.

6. According to them these companies will change the market of this segment vehicle & if enter then it will be good to have a better branded product instead of the new entrants.

Ranking of Models on basis of Look & style:The customer had given points out of 10 to each vehicle according to the look and style this is systematically plotted on the graph

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 YO Bike Hero Ultra Matrix Ace trend 5 8 6 7

Source of Information: The customer had given points out of 10 to each source as there are various modes to get information regarding the Battery operated vehicle this is systematically plotted on the pie chart as follow

Source of Information

Radio 20%

Media 24%

Media Event Reference 19% Print Media Event 16% Reference Radio

Print Media 21%

Maintenance cost chart: The customer was asked to given points out of 10 to their vehicle according to the high maintenance cost. This is systematically plotted on the chart. This chart shows maintenance cost for each model.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Yo Bike Hero Matrix Ace 6 4 7 8

Improvement Required : The customer was asked to given points out of 10 to their vehicle. The points given by the customer were to improve the vehicle by reducing its problems. The problems were regarding Brakes, harness, stands, tyres, head lights, battery problems and speed of their vehicle. Improvement required chart:

9 8 7 6 5 4 7 3 2 1 0 Yo Bike Hero Ace Matrix 6 4 8

Chapter 6

Findings

Findings:
From the research and the response taken from the customer we found that there is a lot of improvement to be done. Some of the model is launched without any proper research. The overall improvement of these 4 bikes is given as below: 1. There should be more pick up in the current available vehicles. 2. They should have more speed at least 40Km/Hr 3. The battery should get charged in less time. 4. The battery should last long for more hours. 5. There should not be variations in speed as battery starts getting used. 6. The tyres should be strong to lessen the number punctures. 7. The body of the vehicle should be of good material so that it does not get damaged early. 8. There should be more space provided for footrest for both rider as well pillion rider. 9. The electrical & electronic fittings should not be complicated 10. There should be speedometer so that one can understand the speed & the average of the vehicle. 11. The battery meter should be digital so that exact knowledge will be available about the spending of power.

Chapter 7

Recommendations

Recommendations:
1. More R& D should be done on Battery areas such as how early it should get charged. 2. The Battery lasting time should get increased. 3. Battery performance while using the vehicle should not be hindered in any way. 4. Having mixed opinion on the speed. Though current customers are satisfied with that but there is scope for improvement. 5. The important factor which has been noticed & has its own importance is of registration of the vehicle There is strong recommendation by almost all the customers that it registration should be mandatory because in case of theft there is no identity to identify the vehicle, since the numbers which have been provided to the customers are by the dealers it self so there so there is wide scope for manipulation in that process. 6. It has been noticed that there are is need gap in the contract between the customer & the company there is scope to legal terms with respect to warranty claims In this case the company has offered the warranty in kilometers but the vehicle does not have the facility to figure out the no. of kilometers traveled. 7. With respect to marketing & service support, the companies are entering slowly in the market, neither they are doing strong marketing & nor the products are strong enough to have a strong word of mouth. 8. There should be strong network of Dealers & service stations.

Chapter 8

Conclusions

Conclusion:
1. The products are been launched in the market with out proper research & development resulting wide need gap between customers expectations & the returns on the investment made by the customers. 2. The companies entered in this market have wide scope of improvement with respect to all areas of product cycle. 3. Though the customers are getting benefited by saving petrol cost but still there are many questions on the durability of the product.Because the vehicles are not having that much strong features which will provide the guarantee to customers with respect to durability of the products. 4. The batteries which get charge in 15 to 20 minutes are highly accepted if the charge for the charging is low somewhere they are ready to pay 5 to 6 Rs per unit.

Chapter 9

Limitations

Limitations of the project:

The research was limited to Pune city only. Larger potential markets outside Pune were untapped. Hence we need to explore untapped market. 1. The study covers the part of Pune region only and due to the limited sample size, the facts revealed in the study may not generalize. 2. The analysis is based on what public opinion at the time of Research. The study may not produce the same findings if done at a later stage of time. 3. While filling the questionnaires public could not provide 100% accurate information because of their personal limitations. 4. Time constraints as limited time for the Research.

Chapter 10

Questionnaire

Questionnaire:
1. Can you introduce yourself? Name Age Gender Address Occupation

2. Do you have vehicle? a. Yes b. No

3. Which model of vehicle do you have? a. Yo bike b. Matrix c. Ace trend d. Hero ultra.

4. Did you compare your vehicle with any other vehicle? a. Yes b. No.

5. Which was the most influencing mode of information? a. Media b. Print media c. Events d. Reference

6. Where do you charge it? a. Home b. Shop c. Parking d. Other..

7. How long do you have to charge your vehicle? a. 5-6hrs b. 6-7hrs c. 7-8hrs d. 8-9hrs e. Above 9hrs

8. Generally after charging it once how many kilometers does it runs? a. 40-50Kms b. 50-60Kms c. 60-70Kms d.70-80Kms e. Above 80kms

9. Do any of you have to carry the battery upstairs because you live in the 2 nd floor or 3rd floor?

a. Yes

b. No.

10. Do you face any problem with your vehicle? a. Yes b. No.

11. Is there any scope to improve your present vehicle? a. Yes b. No.

12. If yes, please specify improvements needed your present vehicle? a.. b.. c.. d 13. Do you generally carry any thing on this vehicle? a. Yes b. No

14. Approximately can you tell me the weight you generally carry on this vehicle? a. 10-20kgs b. 20-30kgs c. 30-40kgs d. 40-50kgs e.Above50kgs

15. In scale of 10 how many points do you give for problems occurred to your bike? Ans. 16. In scale of 10 how many points do you give for the service center of your bike? Ans. 17 .In scale of 10 how many points do you give for look and style to following bike? a. Yo bike b. Matrix c. Ace trend d. Hero ultra.

18. In scale of 10 how many points do you give for the source of information you get? a. Media b. Print media c. Events d. Reference . .

19. In scale of 10 how many points do you give to the maintenance cost of your vehicle? Ans. .

Chapter 11

Bibliography

Bibliography:
Book: 1) Research Methodology Methods and Techniques C.R.Kothari 2) Marketing Management Philip Kotler Internet: www.evfuture.com www.kinetic2wheelers.com www.automobileindia.com www.google.com