What? Harley-Davidson in India for 3.5 lakhs?

I’m indeed fortunate to make a write-up on this. This piece of write up, for sure is gonna set hardcore bikers in high spirits. The news is that the world’s premium motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson is most likely to open up an manufacturing assembly plant in India (Kudos!).

Harley-Davidson is said to have a plan for the past 4 months on opening an assembly plant in Bawal, Rewari district of Haryana, which is about 100 kms from the capital. This is the second plant of HD which is to be set outside the US. Brazil was the first country to host a Harley-Davidson assembly plant subsequently after US. The plant is expected to be built at around 70,000 sq.ft with an initial annual production of 200 motorcycles approximately.

The model that is finalized as of now for production in India is the ‘Harley-Davidson Sporster’. We do hope a few more to join this in the near future. Bikes would be brought to the Bawal plant as CKD (Completely Knocked Down) units from the American factory and would be assembled over here. The rest would be available as imported models in the same manner as available now. This unit would also enable the company to export their bikes to a few other markets as well.

This step would result in slashing the price by as much as 40-45%,(since they are not imported bikes anymore, thereby cutting the heavy import duties) which would result in creating a considerable increase in its market share here. The figure of 40% is incredible indeed. The happiest hearsay is that Sportster 883 Superlow, which was initially priced at INR 5,50,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi) , considered to be the cheapest in India would be available for just about INR 3,50,000!.

This is due to the fact that Sportster is the chosen model to be assembled in the Indian plant. Have you ever thought of possessing a Harley-Davidson for yourself at merely 3.5 lakhs or so. Personally, I’ve never even dreamt about owning a Harley-Davidson in the future, but now my instinct tells me that the day is not at all far away. I term it the ‘HD revolution’.

Concerned about the production, it is expected to begin by mid 2011 which I feel might get prolonged to the end of 2011. Whatever, I don’t mind. All that keeps tingling in my ears is ‘Harley-Davidson in India for 3.5 lakhs’.

Regards,
Naren