A few days back, we had shot a mailer to the India Inquiries Division of Triumph Motorcycle Limited about an update on their plans of foraying into the Indian market. In their reply, they stated that they are well set for an Indian venture and they will launch their brutal motorcycles by the end of 2013’s third quarter. (More Details)
Triumph’s had intentions of an early launch in India however their plans took an unexpected blow in April with their Managing Director Ashish Joshi submitting his papers unexpectedly, leaving one and all flummoxed. Triumph’s India-entry plans drifted around rudderless for quite some time, but there seems to be a surge in their activities of late.
Livemint, an Indian news portal, has now managed to squeeze some more information out of three people, reportedly close to Triumph’s Indian affairs. As mentioned by them, Triumph Motorcycles will begin its Indian operations by assembling Complete Knocked-Down Kits at a facility in the Gurgaon-Manesar corridor in Haryana. It’s a complete volte-face from their earlier statement of building a manufacturing facility at Narsapura, near Bangalore.
Livemint’s sources have also mentioned that Triumph has not completely ditched its Karnataka plans. They might want to implement it in their future scheme of things, however as of now they just want to test the Indian waters before diving headlong into it. Infact, the Gurgaon-Manesar plant based plant will just be an initiation, the full-fledged operations will probably kick start at Narsapura sometime near 2015. The plan will also help further Triumph’s cause, as the Indian Government imposes a duty of only 10% on CKDs as compared to 60% on CBUs.
Triumph’s own spokespersons have been playing dodge-and-swerve with this latest development. Upon being contacted, one of them expressed unwillingness to let out any plans in the current time frame. He, however, mentioned that they will conduct a press gathering about their planned activity in India, sometime soon.
Triumph Motorcycles had showcased its offerings at the Delhi Auto Expo, 2012. Priced between 5.5 Lacs – 22 Lacs, their steeds will be vying for space along with those of Harley-Davidson Inc., Ducati, Kawasaki and Yamaha. There is an expected price revision but the bigger question is: Will you bet your money on this iconic British manufacturer, whose logo does provide a déja vu of the “R” as in that of the Royal Enfield??