Riding into new territory

Iconic motorbike maker Harley-Davidson is revving up to go full throttle on India’s famously potholed roads. The big-engine bike manufacturer has opened its first three dealerships and is planning to launch two more this year in the country of 1.2 billion people where motorcycles are far and away the most popular form of transport.

The Milwaukee-based firm, which has been battling weakening US sales, is hoping to exploit what it sees as a virgin market for its heavyweight bikes in the world’s second-largest two-wheeler market after China.

“We see this incredible motorcycling culture here that is waiting for this new category of heavyweight motorcycles,” says Anoop Prakash, Managing Director, Harley-Davidson India, who fell in love with the bikes when he was a US marine.

Expensive models

But the bulky bikes don’t come cheap. The range of 12 two-wheelers starts at Rs695,000 (about $14,732 or Dh54,113) and can cost up to Rs3.5 million — double the US price — due
to import duties. Harley-Davidson does not expect a rush of orders in India, where the average cost of a motorbike — seen by most buyers as a transitional vehicle between a bicycle and a car — is around $1,500 (about Dh5,500).

But the company hopes that as luxury car sales boom in increasingly affluent India, so will the market for its snorting high-end bikes, which boast 883cc to 1550cc engines. “We feel there’s great demand for global brands here,” says Prakash.

“This bike is my boyhood dream,” says Umesh Anand,47, a company chief executive who bought a monster wide-seated Heritage Softail Classic at Harley-Davidson’s glitzy showroom
in New Delhi.

The firm already operates in more than 70 countries and aims to boost international sales to 40 per cent of revenues by 2014 from 33 per cent now. But India is the only country where it is building its own dealership market right away rather than piggybacking onto other distributors, Rod Copes, Harley-Davidson Senior International Sales Vice-President, says.
“Going into India this way is a real vote of confidence in what we believe is the market in India,” says Copes.The India venture is key for the company, which is in the throes of a massive restructuring to cut costs and increase profitability.Prakash is reluctant to name sales targets but he says he has big plans for the company in India, where he has tied up with the country’s second-largest lender, ICICI Bank, to offer buyers financing. He also plans to set up Harley Owners Groups, famed in the United States for its members who ride and party together while swapping biking tales.

Stiff competition
Harley-Davidson’s competition on Indian roads in the cult bike stakes is the Royal Enfield Bullet, known as the Thumper for its signature thud-thud four-stroke engine and that has been cruising Indian roads for over half a century.

But the engine power of the Royal Enfield — and its cost — is much lower. The Royal Enfield ranges in price from Rs90,000 to Rs150,000.

“The Royal Enfield was the first cruiser [in India], but I think at 500cc and below, it is an entire[ly] different experience from our higher performance machine — there’s room for both of us,” says Prakash.

Harley-Davidson says it believes its bikes can easily stand up to the rigours of India’s unforgiving roads that cater to an eclectic mix of transport, from cars and camels to trucks and elephants.

“I’ve ridden these motorcycles on roads that could break trucks, but we keep riding them,” says Harley-Davidson India’s Service Manager, John McEnaney.
Still, Royal Enfield believes it has an edge over Harley-Davidson in the servicing department.

“You can find yourself in any corner of India and there will be a mechanic who can put your Royal Enfield together,” says Praveen Prakash, Product Marketing Manager, Royal Enfield.