When EV maker Kinetic Green signed a joint venture (JV) with Italy’s Tonino Lamborghini for golf carts and tourism vehicles in 2018, the plan was to manufacture the EVs in India, at Kinetic’s Ahmednagar plant, and market them globally. That plan has been tweaked now. An India production base would still be there, for the domestic markets, but an overseas plant will now be the major one as the JV sees better prospects for its products in global markets.
“We are taking a slightly different strategic approach now to the golf carts, where, while, of course, we will incubate the project at KGTL (Kinetic Green Tonino Lamborghini), as we are doing in India, but we are now looking at an opportunity to set the manufacturing base for the golf carts in the Middle East,” Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Founder and CEO, Kinetic Green tells ETAuto.
KGTL is looking at setting up the Middle East facility over the next twelve months or so, and its team is in talks with authorities for two to three potential locations in the region.
The Indo-Italian JV plans to introduce its first product during the April-June quarter of 2025. The first product will roll out from the Indian facility. “Lot of the design, engineering work is already completed,” says Motwani. KGTL sees its premium golf carts finding more takers in regions like North America, Europe, Middle East where there’s a bigger demand for golf carts than in India. Motwani says that the JV products’ marketing, branding, and all associated efforts will have a global focus.
The global market for golf carts was valued at USD 1.88 billion last year, according to a Pune based market research and consultancy firm Fortune Business Insights. According to the firm’s projection, the market size will grow to USD 2.00 billion this year, to USD 3.29 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 6.4% during this period.
Capitalising the JV
Kinetic Green, which raised USD 25 million in August this year, will invest part of the new funds in the JV. Another USD 15 million of the Series A fund raise is expected to be done soon.It is learnt from sources that another multimillion dollar fund raise, possibly in the USD 30-40 million region, is in the pipeline.
Kinetic Green is also looking at an international play for its two-wheeler business. As reported by ETAuto earlier, the EV maker plans to tap markets in Africa through a collaboration.
The company’s three-wheeler business will be the most key one in terms of profitability as B2B products usually offer better margins. As Motwani puts it, for Kinetic Green, “three wheeler is our bread, two-wheeler is the butter, and golf cart will be the jam”. With renewed or tweaked strategies, and new investments in place, Motwani and team now have the more challenging task of executing the plans successfully.
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