Harley-Davidson bikes to come to India by end-2009

Well-heeled cruiser enthusiasts in India have something to look forward to now!

Harley-Davidson, the American motorcycle manufacturer which bought over the iconic Italian sportsbike company MV Agusta last year, is now looking at expanding its operations worldwide and also wants to bring its bikes to India.

Harley-Davidson is in talks with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in India, with regard to securing permission for setting up its retail outlets in the country. At a later stage, Harley may even set up an assembly unit here – its third overseas facility after Singapore and Thailand.

Harley-Davidson bikes imported to India as CBUs will cost anywhere between Rs 6-20 lakh because of the heavy import duties levied on imported bikes, though prices will come down significantly if the company sets up a manufacturing/assembly plant in India.

Harley’s CBU imports are expected to come to India by end-2009, while the company may only start assembly of its bikes here by 2010-11.

Hav been hearing this from quite sometime that Harley is coming to India.don't know how successful will it be, Since its a crusier, Most of the young Gen. in India prefer sportsbikes.


RoadRocket

its a crusier , but are there any roads on which you can cruise in peace? :lol!:

Road Rocket wrote:Hav been hearing this from quite sometime that Harley is coming to India.don't know how successful will it be, Since its a crusier, Most of the young Gen. in India prefer sportsbikes.


RoadRocket

Now the new trend with college students here is RE. Though not many, few students own a RE. The scenario may change soon, i believe and we could see more of them.

Harley would taste success, if they assemble it in India and price it from 6lakhs, like mentioned on the article.

But assembling it in India won't be a good thing, if they intend to sell it only in India. They should export from here.

napster wrote:its a crusier , but are there any roads on which you can cruise in peace? :lol!:

Yeah there aren't many. But even there aren't many roads for superbikes in India. I believe it could half the amoount of super sport bikes in India, if it is launched with 6lakhs price tag, like mentioned on the article.

Adding few pics of Harleys -

By seeing the pics, especially the second one, it is not possible to drive a Harley in City limits. U-turns and parkings will be very hard. Need some serious planning and strength(for reversing) to do it. And also GC will be an issue, hope they raise the height for India.

Increasing the GC of a bike is not at all a problem... :)

hope this time they actually come to india. have been hearing about this since ages now.

antriksh_t wrote:Increasing the GC of a bike is not at all a problem... :)

GC should be increased by the HD only. If we do it ourselves, then it might affect its handling and stability and no HD owner would even think of doing it.

No worry about GC, Every car/bike maker knows the condition of Indian roads, So they will definately increase it for India.

RoadRocket