Kinetic Engineering is betting heavily on finding out whether one of India’s great scooter memories can become a viable EV business again. Nearly four decades after the boxy Kinetic Honda became one of India’s most recognisable scooters, Ajinkya Firodia is committing another ₹40 crore to its electric reincarnation as part of the total ₹57 crore rights issue for its shareholders.
The DX, unveiled in July 2025 and recording Vahan registrations from around December, has clocked 2,317 registrations against 4,300 primary sales—averaging roughly 230 registrations a month through September.
Ajinkya Firodia, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Kinetic Engineering, says that the average masks a sharp change in trajectory. More than 1,500 registrations came in over the past three months, implying a recent pace of over 500 a month, while the company has more than 1,000 pending orders and a 10-15-day waiting period as production ramps up.
“We are completely on track to achieve our business plan for 12,000 vehicles this year,” Firodia informed businessline.
Kinetic Engineering has raised ₹177 crore through its warrant programme, including a final ₹57-crore tranche from the Firodia promoter family. The latest infusion comes as the company tries to scale its revived Kinetic DX electric scooter business. Of the ₹57 crore, Kinetic plans to put ₹40 crore into its electric vehicle subsidiary, Kinetic Watts & Volts, taking its investment there to about ₹135 crore. The remaining ₹17 crore is earmarked for capital expenditure and its driveline business.
The comeback also has an unusual family twist. Two siblings are separately reinventing icons from their father’s Kinetic empire. Sulajja Firodia Motwani has taken the Luna legacy forward through Kinetic Green, which raised $25 million from private-equity investor Greater Pacific Capital, while Ajinkya is rebuilding the Kinetic Honda DX principally with promoter capital routed through listed Kinetic Engineering.
The difference in scale is stark. Kinetic Green registered 11,557 electric two-wheelers in FY26, averaging close to 1,000 a month. The DX’s recent 500-plus monthly pace is rising but remains well below India’s largest electric two-wheeler manufacturers, whose monthly registrations run into tens of thousands.
Firodia says comparisons with established manufacturers overlook how quickly the restarted business is moving. Kinetic has climbed from around No. 300 to No. 16 in six months, he said, and would rank No. 11 excluding B2B players and electric motorcycles. “We expect to be in the top 10 very soon.”
The tougher comparison is with Kinetic’s own targets. Management expects monthly volumes to reach 2,000-3,000 in the first quarter of 2027, while KWVL needs about 8,000 scooters a month for EBITDA break-even, which Firodia expects by Q3 2028. Promoters have set a five-year vision of 400,000 scooters.
Dealers contacted by businessline were more cautious. One dealer, requesting anonymity, said wholesale revenues were being recorded, but the retail offtake remained poor. Another described customer response as tepid despite Kinetic expanding its network. “More dealers does not mean demand is being stimulated,” the dealer said.
A competing EV dealer described the DX as having an “uncle-type scooter” look, questioning the appeal of its deliberately retro styling among younger buyers.
Firodia disputes that premise. The DX is not primarily aimed at Gen Z, he said; its core market is 30-50-year-old family-scooter customers, putting it up against products such as the TVS iQube, Bajaj Chetak, and Ather Rizta.
Kinetic calls the DX an Italian-designed “retro futuristic” reincarnation, combining the squared-off proportions of the original with an all-metal body, LFP battery, 37-litre storage and connected features.
“Our heritage is an advantage, but we are not dependent on nostalgia,” Firodia said.
Kinetic has signed 150-plus dealer letters of intent, with over 60 outlets operational. Dealers currently average around 20 scooters a month, although some sell 50, with management expecting throughput to reach 35-40 next financial year.
The unanswered question is how much capital it will take to bridge the gap, even as profitability at the listed parent has come under pressure. KEL’s consolidated revenue rose 7.2 per cent to ₹166.41 crore in FY26, but net profit fell to ₹0.87 crore. In Q1 FY27, revenue jumped 43 per cent year-on-year to ₹50.59 crore, while the company reported a consolidated net loss of ₹11.50 crore as expenses rose sharply.
Firodia has attributed the difficult quarter to higher input costs and other operating disruptions and says the business has since turned around. He also rejects concerns that KWVL could become a liquidity burden on the parent, pointing out that the EV subsidiary is equity-funded and carries no debt.
Asked how much more KWVL could require beyond the latest ₹40 crore before becoming self-sustaining, however, Firodia declined to put a number on it. Promoters remain committed to a five-year plan for 400,000 scooters and have several funding options, he said.
“It will work as a stand-alone entity and will have its own avenues to raise funds as required, including KEL and others,” Firodia said.
That makes the DX more than a bet on whether an old scooter can find a new generation of buyers. Kinetic Engineering is committing shareholder capital to rebuild a two-wheeler business while the listed company’s own profitability is under pressure—and the EV arm must eventually climb from hundreds of registrations a month to around 8,000 scooters a month to break even at the EBITDA level.
For Ajinkya Firodia, the challenge is no longer simply to bring one of his father’s most recognisable creations back to life. It is to prove that nostalgia can be converted into scale before the cost of the comeback overtakes its promise.
Published on September 27, 2026
