Success and setbacks

Mahindra is tasting success in motorcycle racing, but is a non-starter in the market so far. Usually, it’s the other way around, report Lijee Philip & Ketan Thakkar

For most auto companies, success on a racing track is more elusive than off it. But Mahindra & Mahindra has, inadvertently, inverted this racing-market truism. In only its second year, the Mahindra motorcycle-racing team, which competes in two international championships of pedigree, took its first chequered flag last month. In contrast, in the market place, its motorcycle journey has been one of false starts.

SLOWING IN THE MARKET…

The company launched the 110-cc Stallio in October 2010, only to withdraw it in February 2011 because of a faulty clutch and gear parts. It sold 5,181 units in four months. “While it was a small aberration, we had to be mindful of the customer,” Anoop Mathur, president, Mahindra Two Wheelers, had explained then. M&M initially planned to re-launch the Stallio at the 2012 Auto Expo, in January. “We have done trial runs on the Stallio after rectification and are also working on different modes of communication,” Mathur told ET in September 2011. A senior official, who did not want to be identified, said it will be launched during the “festive season”.

Mahantesh Sabarad, auto analyst with Fortune Broking, says Mahindra will need to offer a “distinctive and radical product” to appeal to the masses. “There are aggressive players and they have positioned themselves well,” he says. “Hero MotoCorp stands for reliability, Bajaj Auto for aggression and premium, Yamaha is about racing style.” The Stallio’s struggles have contributed to M&M losing momentum in two-wheelers—the smallest and newest part of its auto business. The company entered two-wheelers in 2008 by acquiring Kinetic Motors. It sold 124,700 units of its scooter models—Rodeo, Duro and Flyte—between April 2011 and February 2012. This was, however, a fall of 17.5% over the previous corresponding period because of the competition in scooters and its absence in motorcycles.

…BUT SPEEDING ON THE RACE TRACK

This is a contrast to its rising trajectory in motorcycle racing, which it inherited on acquiring Engines Engineering, an Italian engineering and design firm, in 2008. This year, Mahindra Racing is competing in two championships: 250cc in MotoGP (effectively tier-III of the premier motorcycle-racing series), which is telecast in 207 countries, and the 125-cc Italian Championship. On March 25, its Italian driver Riccardo Moretti won a race in the Italian Championship at Mugello, Ferrari’s base, for the team’s first victory. “The bike we raced was proprietarily developed by us. We were not just team sponsors or financiers,” says Anand Mahindra, vicechairman and managing director of M&M. “We raced as manufacturers against legendary marquees such as Aprilia, Derbi and KTM.” Both Mahindra and Mathur play up the technology learnings. “Racing subjects bikes to extreme conditions and thus allows the dramatic compression of time in gaining know-how on performance and durability,” says Mahindra. Adds Mathur: “Our strategic intent is to build the two-wheeler brand and launch high-performance products.” Mufaddal Choonia, CEO of Mahindra Racing, says technology transfer from the track to the factory will happen, especially of features like traction control and electronic fuel injection. “The company is currently in the technology absorption stage, not in the implementation stage yet,” he says. “With vehicles getting more powerful, these features will matter.” M&M has a 300-cc motorcycle Mojo under works. But it still has to kick-start the Stallio, and bring parity between success on the track and off it.