KUALA LUMPUR (April 19): DRB-Hicom Bhd's 81%-owned Motosikal Dan Enjin Nasional (Modenas) will enter the Malaysian street bike segment through collaboration with Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) from India.

In a statement today, Modenas said the collaboration will be initiated in stages including distribution, and technology transfer through the development of a dedicated assembly hub in Modenas' plant in Gurun, Kedah. Eventually, Modenas and BAL are also planning to penetrate international markets, using the Modenas brand in Asean and beyond.

DRB-Hicom group managing director Datuk Seri Syed Faisal Albar said he believes the move will strengthen the brand and help it capture a larger share of the motorcycle market.

"The cooperation is in line with our aspiration to strengthen the Modenas brand as a whole, by offering a wider range [to] motorcycle enthusiasts. The local market was very receptive to the Modenas joint venture with Kymco in the scooter segment in November last year, and now the company is ready to embark into a more aggressive market, which is the street bike segment. With BAL as our partner, we now have a new segment we can cater to," he said.

BAL is ranked as the fourth largest three- and two-wheeler manufacturer in the world, and the Bajaj brand is well-known across several countries. In its home market of India, Bajaj's range of motorcycles has been well received, and it continues to cut a bigger share of the market there.

"There is no doubt that BAL has the experience and technological know-how for this segment. The Bajaj models we are looking to introduce into Malaysia in the coming months have proven themselves globally, and we believe this will be replicated in Malaysia too. Their motorcycles are market leaders in their respective segments across 74 countries spanning Latin America, Middle East, South Asia, Asean and Europe. BAL is known globally for a differentiated product line backed by an innovative R&D team and rigorous product testing," Syed Faisal said.

At 10.31am, DRB-Hicom fell 1 sen or 0.7% to RM1.35, with 369,700 shares traded, for a market capitalisation of RM2.61 billion.