Will Harley Davidson Assemble More Cruiser Bikes in India?

Harley Davidson seems to be completely impressed with the Indian market. As of now, the company is enjoying the monopoly status when it comes to cruiser bikes. Though every single Japanese player has a model in this segment, nothing equals a Harley, right? The company is also playing the right game when it comes to pricing and hence the rate at which the company is seeing a northward trend is really amazing and cool.

The company is now seriously considering assembling more models in its Haryana facility which is located at Bawal. The specialty of this plant makes it very unique. This is Harley Davidson’s second plant outside the United States. The first one being situated in Brazil and the second one being this. That’s the way the company sees the Indian market and the growth that we’ve all been observing out here for quite a few years.

The US bike maker’s current Indian portfolio includes a vast array of 15 models, out of which 5 are assembled in the Bawal plant.  The company is all set and ready to go ahead with this decision after studying the market and the customer’s feedback on this. Commenting on this, Mr Anoop Prakash, Managing Director, Harley – Davidson India said, “We are keen to start assembling more models at Bawal. But such a decision will depend on customer feedback. If there is demand for a particular model we might explore the option of assembling more models here in the country,”

Mr. Prakash had mentioned that assembling a few of the models locally would end up in cost reduction of the bike. In fact, this was the strategy adopted by the company in getting the price of one of its model – SuperLow which is the cheapest Harley in India as on date. Earlier, this bike was priced at a whooping 7 lakhs which was a lakh and a half higher than the current pricing.( Oh, my gosh! )

Harley Davidson Cruiser Bikes Sales in India

The company has managed to sell 1000 units in the Indian market so far since August 2009, when it first stepped into the Indian market. The response has been good and, in some places like Ahmedabad, we have sold more bikes than expected,” he added. The company does not reveal India figures or break-up of its region – wise sales. In 2012 alone, the company is targeting sales of nearly 1,000 units across the country. It has over 1,000 customers in the country. Market sources said that the above 800cc bike category was nearly 1,600 units in India.

Harley-Davidson Showroom in Goa?

The company has been firmly keen in opening up more dealerships along the length and breadth of the sub-continent. The company plans to open up two more dealerships in the cities of Kochi and Goa. “Typically, 30 per cent of our sales are from the smaller metros. And we will look to expand in other smaller metros soon,” Mr Prakash said. The one on the former city might see the inauguration by October this year and the latter by the last month.

Harley-Davidson currently has eight dealerships in India. Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.

Now, will  the coming up of Triumph Motorcycles make the company recalibrate its whole strategy by putting itself more competitively? Let’s all wait and watch the fun game that’s all in the pace now.