Launch plans of Triumph Motorcycles, the iconic British motorcycle brand, has got delayed by several months even as it struggles to search for a new managing director for India operations.
The UK-based, 125-year-old specialised two-wheeler company had committed to launching seven premium motorcycles in India starting at Rs 4.5 lakh with the Bonneville by June-July this year, just in time to meet the festive demand.
However, lack of any activity towards setting up of dealerships or an assembly plant fully on its own has led to the substantial delay. The company initially was looking at tie ups with a local partner for expansion in dealership but eventually decided to go solo.
Its premium range, which was showcased at the biennial Delhi Auto Expo earlier this year, was met with a resounding response from the public at large. Its former managing director Ashish Joshi quit the company in the middle of this year but Triumph has been unable to find a replacement so far.
"Currently there are no Triumph dealerships open in India and the plan is to have dealers operational by early 2013 and sales/bookings to start after that", clarifies a statement on the website of Triumph.
Further, an assembly plant was supposed to be functional by June-July this year but so far the company has only surveyed the locations in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and is yet to take a final decision on the same.
The assembly plant, which would be one amongst handful in the world, would put together the different parts of the bikes shipped from the manufacturing base in the UK. This would allow the company to escape the hefty duties laid down on fully imported products and price its products attractively.
An email query sent to the company seeking clarity on future course of action remained unanswered. as per its earlier plans Triumph bikes were to go on sale in June across five dealerships. The plant would be assembling 5-10 bikes a day, while dealerships would have increased to 10-14 by this year-end.
"We are looking to appoint dealers at Delhi/ Mumbai and Bangalore. This will be followed by dealerships in Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Chennai, Hyderabad, Cochin and Goa over the next year", further states in the statement.
Despite the larger slowdown felt in the automotive demand in the last several months, demand for expensive bikes has not died down. American cult bike producer Harley Davidson whose range starts at Rs 5.60 lakh saw sales of 442 bikes in the first five months of this financial year, according to data provided by SIAM.
Harley Davidson headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin too locally assembles some of its products at its first plant outside the US in Bawal, Haryana.
