BIG Bikes: Americans and British beat the Japanese in India!

People who still scoff at the idea of ‘big bikes in India’ should look at the sales figures of these motorcycles in our country. Let me start with the biggest ones in fact – the ‘above-1600 cc’ behemoths. Harley-Davidson sold 34 bikes in this category last month alone, which means the company sold more than one bike per day on more than one occasion!

Harley-Street-Glide-India-Launch-Pics

Triumph came in a close second by selling 15 such monsters last month. From April to October this year, Harley sold 185 motorcycles in the above-1600 cc category while Triumph sold 126 in the same period.

Triumph-Thruxton (2)

However, the British company has taken an authoritative lead when it comes to bikes in the 800-1000 cc segment. The year-to-date figure is the best yet in this segment at 406 units! Harley-Davidson came second here with sales of 374 units. Harley had sold 618 motorcycles in this segment in the corresponding period of 2013 – that’s when Triumph wasn’t there; the Brit came in November-end last year…

Yamaha-YZF-R1

Yamaha has not been able to sell a single R1 or an FZ1 or a V-Max since April this year! Even in the corresponding period last year, it had managed to sell only 14 units. What’s wrong Yamaha? Honda has also not sold many CBRs and CBs this year and its YTD figure is just 14, while it was just double for the same period last year. In the 1000-1600 cc category also, Honda has just sold one bike in April-October this year.

Kawasaki-ZX-14R-Red-India

It’s Harley-Davidson again on top in the 1000-1600 cc segment and the year-to-date figure stands at 276 units. That’s again less than the 327 units it managed in the corresponding period of 2013, but is still the best at present. Kawasaki sold 55 units of the Ninja ZX-14R, Ninja 1000, and Z1000 until October-end in this financial year and Suzuki with its Hayabusa and Bandit has not been much behind at 50 units in the same period. Same goes for Triumph that managed to sell 46 units in this category.

Related: Duke & RC390 Decimate CBR250R & Every Other 250-300cc Bike in India: Oct 14 Sales Report