The Kinetic Luna, the cheapest form of mobility for India’s masses for much of the Seventies and Eighties, was built to a plan: it had to be under 50 kg in weight; completely indigenous; and priced at Rs 1,600 per unit. When it finally rolled out, the Luna, essentially a reverse-engineered Piaggio Ciao, met almost all of those targets, barring the price – at launch (in 1972) it had a sticker price of just under Rs 2,000. There was yet another really interesting aside. The first set of tools and dies for this monocoque beam-frame moped (short for MOtorised PEDal vehicle) project, were sourced almost entirely from TELCO (now Tata Motors). In fact, the Tata group automotive company decided to offer these dies and tools pretty much for free, with only the material cost being billed to the Kinetic group. The Luna went on to change entry-level mobility in India, and over time became an almost generic name, with its marketing punchline – chal meri Luna – helping position the vehicle as a worthy upgrade from the modest black bicycle.There are many such interesting nuggets regarding the Indian mobility industry in automotive historian and motoring journalist Adil Jal Darukhanawala’s new coffee-table book, Kinetic’s Electric Energy, the author’s 16th book in the series of chronicling Indian motoring heritage. In this story of ‘India’s Original People Mover’, Darukhanawala deftly chronicles the over 50-year old story behind the building of Kinetic Engineering, which has since gone on to figure among the leading OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) in India’s automotive industry. Darukhanawala starts with the group’s founder, the late HK Firodia, who was the driving force in identifying mopeds as a need for the common man, and was also instrumental in laying out the early deliverables for the Luna project, and goes on to his son, Arun Firodia. With an initial capital outlay of Rs 15 lakh for a moped that was to be made entirely in India with indigenous machinery and with a reinforced emphasis on the vehicle being built to cost, Kinetic Engineering put the project into motion in Ahmednagar, on the outskirts of Pune. Kinetic, which also had the distinction of being the first company in that district with a manufacturing unit, set up the factory in a 50 acre sprawl with 26 manufacturing sheds. The unit started to progressively ramp up production capacity to around 2,000 Lunas per day in the 1980s. After the Pedal Start Luna came the Spark, the Safari, the geared King 100; followed by scooterettes Pride and Style, and motorcycles Boss and Velocity. The company subsequently tied-up with South Korea’s Hyosung to launch the 260cc V-twin Aquilla and Comet motorbikes. Then came a big turning point, with Kinetic launching a subsidiary that got into a joint venture project with Japan’s Honda Motor Company, Christened Kinetic Honda Motor Co., the JV operated between the years 1986 and 1998 from its manufacturing base in Pithampur. Under this partnership, Kinetic Engineering set up transmission, engine and gearbox manufacturing capability under Honda’s guidance to develop its first product: the Kinetic Honda DX – India’s first scooter equipped with a CVT gearbox. Adil Jal Darukhanawala on a Kinetic Honda.The CVT, or continuously variable transmission, gearbox provided a continuous driving experience without any physical gear changes, and with that auto box, the Kinetic Honda DX proved to be a pathbreaker in ease of driving in the scooter segment. It went on to change the way Indians experienced personal mobility and made scooters more appealing, especially for women riders. Story continues below this adKinetic tried to push the envelope further with a microcar by leveraging the 98.2cc two-stroke engine duly sourced from the Kinetic Honda venture and also pressing into service the scooter’s variomatic transmission, more as a proof of concept than as a real shot at commercial success. The car proved to be ahead of its times, hitting the market nearly a decade before Ratan Tata came up with the Nano. There were other landmarks. Kinetic Engineering was the first company in India to export automobiles to the US, with the Luna seeing some unanticipated success in that market. Given that the product liability laws in the US were a deterrent, the company engineered a way to circumvent these liability norms by selling the Luna in kit form packaged in a small compact box. With that, the company saved money on shipping while also getting around the onerous liability laws with this DIY (do-it-yourself) solution. Over 50,000 Lunas made their way into the US market before the stringent emission regulations there eventually curbed this export stream. The nearly 180-page book is a rich chronicle of more than five decades of innovation, engineering and entrepreneurship, of which Darukhanawala clearly had a ringside view. It puts together rare photographs, archival documents, historical material and revelatory first-hand accounts to tell the story of the Kinetic brand and its products. While the Luna was a symbol of affordable mobility for millions of Indians, the Kinetic Honda DX brought convenience and modernity to urban commuting and went on to become one of the most popular scooters of its time. Each chapter is presented not merely as historical milestones, but as moments that collectively shaped each of the products and stamped the Kinetic identity in India’s automotive saga.What helps make it more personal is Darukhanawala’s long association with Kinetic that dates back to the early 1980s. That comes handy when piecing together a record of the products, partnerships, people and ideas that helped build an enduring legacy across three generations of the Firodia family and to present it as a visual story of the engineers, entrepreneurs and employees that made it possible. As Kinetic enters its next chapter in electric mobility, the past remains an important source of inspiration. Story continues below this adDarukhanawala’s tribute to India’s original people mover chronicles a vital early chapter in India’s mobility story.Kinetic’s Electric Energy — The Story of India’s Original People Mover Adil Jal DarukhanawalaDJ MediaRs 3,700