The wait is almost about to end, Triumph will kick start sales in India in November and the excitement is unending. The automaker went ahead and boldly announced prices and unveiled its India lineup at the 2012 Auto Expo but things went wrong mid-way which led to the delay. Triumph is betting big on the Indian market and unlike other manufacturers which try CBU first to gauge market response and then go the CKD route, Triumph will sell locally assembled bikes from day one, which means prices will be mouth watering, or so we hope.
Vimal Sumbly, Triumph India’s new MD has revealed quite a bit about the British automaker’s plan for the Indian market. Triumph is indeed betting heavily on emerging markets and plans to make India a global hub for affordable bikes. The Manesar facility will assemble big motorcycles via the CKD route while by 2015, Triumph will start manufacturing smaller capacity bikes in Narsapura (near Bangalore) which will have heavy local content. Triumph believes the big bike market is more in the central and northern regions of India while Bangalore is a nice place to set up a manufacturing facility as sales of affordable performance machines are high there.
Contrary to what people believe, Triumph is not a cruiser only brand like Royal Enfield and Harley-Davidson. The British automaker has all sorts of bikes in its portfolio to challenge rivals in cruiser, dirt, sport and supersport segments. Thus Triumph is not only going to give sleepless nights to Harley-Davidson but also to Kawasaki, Ducati and BMW Motorrad. The emerging market range is being developed and will consist of sub-500cc motorcycles which could solely be manufactured in India and exported the world over to other emerging markets like South Africa, Nepal, Bangladesh and Latin America. Although the British company hasn’t made any announcements on what its emerging market range will comprise of, we are sure that a 250cc machine is going to be at the forefront.
Triumph understands the importance of after sales support and the company is working on establishing a wide dealer network which will cater to good sales and service support of its world-class bikes. Unlike KTM and BMW Motorrad, which have tied up with Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor respectively, Triumph is going solo and are showing commitment which is sure to benefit them in the long term. Expect Triumph’s locally manufactured range to start at around Rs. 2.5 lakhs while the costliest motorcycle will certainly be the Rocket III, priced around Rs. 20 lakhs.
Source – LiveMint