After its hectic presentation of vehicles in the Indian motorcycle market Harley-Davidson is screwing its bolts to tap more business here. The step towards increasing the product range are taken in rigor to shape bikes suited for the domestic market. In addition there will be an assembly unit for the iconic brands, said its VP in charge of Asia Pacific markets. He said this will be the third stage in the company’s Indian presence after the CBU and the CKD. The assembling unit will materialize based on the demand for the product range he added and he expressed the hope that this situation may prosper in another two years. As of now, the company has the lone assembling unit in Brazil. The company’s bikes come to India as CBUs which are retailed by three outlets located in Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Delhi.
Harley-Davidson is on the anvil of launching two more outlets in Mumbai and Bangalore in another two months. The cost of the bikes are whooping due to the import duty of 80% and this may be curtailed if the bikes are assembled domestically. He did not deliberate on the orders nor the expected demand for the products. He quoted the lack of showrooms and the exact number and growth would be available only when more dealerships come to the force. In this regard there is a proposal to launch more dealer networks at Chennai, Kolkata, jaipur, Nagpur, Indore, Pune and towns of Gujarat. The move is introduce
rental bikes first to source the brand reputation. In the meanwhile, the US bike maker Milwaukee is on the Indian roads with 12 models at the price range of Rs6.95 – Rs34.95 lakhs. It has a least presence in the Japanese market and wants to hold on the Indian market. However, the company had a good stint, with 33% in 2009 which is expected to be 40% in another 4 years. Currently the company is offering financial assistance to the purchase of bikes thro’ ICICI bank.