Kinetic Honda - The Break-Up

Both Honda and the Firodias of Kinetic were quick to deny rumors of a split, though reports of the Firodias quietly raising resources to buy out Honda's stake kept surfacing. The Firodias were even reported to have securitised the assets of their two-wheeler finance company - 20^th Century Kinetic Finance (TCKF) - to raise this money. Trouble had been brewing since the company recorded a loss of Rs. 6 crore in the first quarter of 1998. Eventually Honda decided to put the matter to rest and called Arun Firodia (Firodia) to Japan in December 1998. Honda made Firodia an offer - either he buy their 51% stake or Honda would buy out his 19% stake. Analysts remarked that it was difficult for Firodia to let go of the company that he had nurtured for the best part of his life.

He also signed an agreement with them for continuing to manufacture and sell the existing Kinetic Honda models. Honda also agreed to continue providing technical know-how support in return for royalty and technical fees from Kinetic. Considering the fact that Honda was the world's biggest and most successful scooter manufacturer, the pullout came as a surprise to industry observers, as it was quite unlcharacteristic of Honda Motor to give up a segment. More so, as just a couple of months earlier, Honda had been reported to be planning to make further investments in Kinetic Honda.¹ This was seen as a major setback for the company. It was also perhaps the only instance of a Honda failure anywhere in the world.