Harley Davidson to open product development center in India

Harley-Davidson Motor Co. (HDMC), a leading manufacturer of heavyweight bikes, is eying on setting-up a product development center in India to develop and design bikes in the country. The US based motorcycle giant is also mulling over the option of establishing a assembly plant in the Indian market so that its iconic bikes can qualify for the lower excise duty segment.

 

According to Mr Rod Copes, senior vice-president of international sales, marketing and business development at HDMC, in coming months, the company is going to be eying on product development center at more international bases so that it can analyze the varying demand of different product of buyer of different countries. He added that establishment of new product development and assemble center in the Indian market will be the third phase of company's growth strategy in India as the first two being the launch with CBUs (completely built units) and the assembling of CKDs (completely knocked down) units. 

 

The company has recently inaugurated its first three dealerships in the Indian market where its bikes are now being imported as completely built units. These dealerships include one each in Delhi, Chandigarh and Hyderabad. With this, the company is all set to open two more dealerships in the country in Mumbai and Bangalore. By assembling its bikes in India, the company will be able to take the levied excise duty to mere 30 percent as compare to current excise duty of 80 percent. 

 

After expanding its dealership base to the metro cities of the country, the company further plans to reach-out to the tier-II Indian cities like Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur, Nagpur, Indore, Pune and Gujarat.