New bikes to come up at plant in Haryana.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Motorcycle manufacturing company Harley-Davidson is getting ready to expand its manufacturing plant in India.
The plant, which is located in the city of Bawal, Haryana, will be responsible for the building of the company’s new Street 500 and Street 750 model bikes. This factory and another one in Kansas City, Missouri will be the only two plants manufacturing these bikes, which are due out on showrooms by the middle of next year.
The plant has been in Haryana for some time, but is now expanding to full scale in order to accommodate the expected demand for the bikes. The motorcycles manufactured in India will be exported specifically to markets in Europe and south-east Asia.
The bikes will also be sold in India, although with one slight modification: the Street 750 model will apparently come with a “saree guard,” which protects women who ride at the rear of bike in a side-saddle style from having the cloth of their outfit get ensnared in the rear wheel of the bike.
The Street 500 and Street 750 models were originally announced at the Esposizione Internazionale Ciclo Motociclo e Accessori (EICMA, roughly translated to International Expo on Motorcycles and Related Accessories) expo in Milan earlier this month. The two bikes are largely identical in terms of color and style, with the 750 model’s better engine being the only significant difference between the two, and both bikes are made to be ridden in more urban environments.
Aiming to hit a younger demographic, the 110 year-old Harley-Davidson company is also pricing the bikes very competitively, with the 500 expected to sell for under 4 lakh rupees and the 750 for under 5 lakh rupees. Also worth noting for younger potential buyers is that the 750 model was recently seen being ridden by the title character in the trailer for the movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
India is no stranger to motorcycles and two-wheeled automotives. A 2002 survey found that there were roughly 37 million motorcycle and moped users in India, making it the highest-ranked country in the world in that regard (China followed closely with 34 million). The most popular two-wheeler manufacturers in India include Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd., and TVS Motor. In the US, on the other hand, motorcycles continue to be largely a niche market.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com