Yulu Bikes and Kinetic Green Settle Brand Dispute
Two of the largest electric vehicle players, Yulu Bikes and Kinetic Green reached an out-of-court agreement over the issue and allowed the best-selling Zulu e-scooters to re-enter with just a little alteration in the brand name.
The Kinetic Green deal would re-brand the Zulu e-scooter as “e-Zulu” shortly. Furthermore, the scooter would have a secondary naming layer: “Kinetic Green” or “KG” as a prefix to the modified name. This twin-naming strategy would maintain the familiarity of the brand and differentiate the relaunched model from its predecessor.
Brand Battle: Yulu and Kinetic Green Settle Dispute
A powerful brand name is undeniably very vital. This fact came to prominence when Yulu Bikes, a leading micromobility and EV startup. It predicted Kinetic Green from using the Zulu brand name for its e-scooter, launched in December 2023.
After a few months of legal tussle, the companies Yulu and Kinetic Green compromised. They went for an out-of-court settlement whereby they would withdraw the cases filed against each other.
While settling the case, Kinetic Green has agreed to rechristen the Zulu e-scooter as “e-Zulu” in the near future. Also, the scooter will be affixed with a secondary naming layer, “Kinetic Green” or “KG,” before the tweaked brand name. The very concept of double naming would serve the purpose of making the distinctive yet retaining some brand recall.
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“We are quite satisfied with the compromise reached, which enables us to take ahead the brand equity created in our Zulu e-scooter, and adopt it with an “e”, making it quite effortlessly consistent with our EV branding philosophy, for example- with our e-Luna”
Sulajja Firodia Motwani, founder and chief executive officer, Kinetic Green. “EV mobility has huge growth potential, and offers sufficient room for all players to chart their unique paths and resolve concerns amicably. We are glad to have reached a win- win solution with Kinetic Green.”
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With the recent settlement of the brand dispute, Kinetic Green is to resume production and sales of its popular e-Zulu scooter. The e-Zulu, along with the e-Luna (the company’s most affordable EV at INR 70,000), is expected to drive significant sales volume for Kinetic Green.
The EV maker has ambitious growth targets, aiming to reach 1 million units annually by 2029 and achieve a INR 10,000 crore turnover within the same timeframe. However, the resolution of the trademark infringement issue allows Kinetic Green to immediately focus on promoting and selling the e-Zulu.
The company anticipates selling 25,000 units of the Zulu/e-Zulu over the next year. Moreover, this is a promising target, considering that the scooter had already sold 3,000 units before the lawsuit halted its production.
EV Industry Triumphs: Yulu and Kinetic Green Settle Dispute
Besides the courtroom and legal battles, backroom negotiations no doubt played their part in paving the way for a settlement between them. Moreover, this maturity in discussions helped both come closer to a point that fitted both of them.
The adapted brand name for the e-scooter helps Kinetic Green retain strong associations with the original Zulu name. However, while avoiding confusion in the market. For Yulu, the “Kinetic e-Zulu” branding makes clear differentiation of the two products.
This, in turn, is a win-win approach to the advantage of the greater electric mobility industry. According to Motwani, such a settlement sends out a very positive signal to other players in the industry, one that calls for collaboration and commercial understanding as they work together to achieve the general goal of promoting e-mobility.
