The Indian motorcycle market is creating quite a buzz, with many global 2-wheeler companies running to India to launch their products. A few years back, China was touted to take the lead as far as the motorcycle industry is concerned, but things haven’t panned out that way. Instead, India is showing a lot of promise and has the potential to beat China in terms of motorcycle growth. There are various factors working in favour of India, such as increase in demand and the presence of home grown 2-wheeler companies.
So what is driving demand in India? Firstly the current youth population in the country is quite strong and young people are more inclined to motorcycles as they are cheaper to buy and run than a car. Bikes are also a fashion statement in colleges, which drives demand even further. Besides, cheaper production costs are also luring manufacturers to India. KTM’s decision to produce the Duke 125, Duke 200 and Duke 390 in India can be attributed to the fact that it is cheaper to manufacturer bikes in India, than overseas. Other companies are following suit.
Japanese big-wigs like Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki are investing heavily to boost production capacity. Other more premium players like Triumph, BMW and Hyosung are planning to locally produce bikes in India in the distant future. Harley-Davidson is already working aggressively by locally assembling many of its motorcycles in India. The next to join is Polaris owned Victory motorcycles. India’s largest bike manufacturer, Hero MotoCorp has tied up with Erik Buell Racing, which is sure to yield dividends in the future.
Read AutoEvolution’s interesting take on the Indian motorcycle industry here.
