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| Harley Davidson to start Indian assembly |
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Just seven months after setting up shop in the country, Harley-Davidson is moving forward with the launch of operations in India to assemble motorcycles for the Indian market from component kits supplied by its U.S. plants. According to the company, the CKD assembly facility will be operational in the first half of 2011. India will soon be the second country in which Harley-Davidson has CKD assembly operations outside the U.S. – after Brazil, where the company began assembly operations in 1999.
Once the CKD assembly facility in Haryana is operational, Harley-Davidson India will import CKD kits for select models, consisting of components produced by Harley-Davidson’s U.S. plants in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Missouri, as well as the company’s external suppliers. Employees at the Haryana facility will then assemble the components into finished motorcycles. Other models will continue to be imported as completely built motorcycles for now.
Harley-Davidson Motor Company President and Chief Operating Officer, Matthew S. Levatich said, “This investment will allow Harley-Davidson to improve our market responsiveness and production flexibility while reducing the tariff burden, which we expect will drive growth over time by making our bikes more accessible to India’s consumers. Given the strong response we have received in the initial months of retail operations, we believe this is the right investment for this important market.”
Nevertheless, despite the assembly operations slated to begin next year, one shouldn’t expect the prices of these legendary bikes to come down significantly.
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Honda ready to rattle the Indian bike market with a 250cc sensation |
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The Indian bike segment is heating up, as the result of new and exciting bike launches. But this is just the start, and we can expect to see a whole lot more in the near future – and Honda is promising us just that.
Sometime next year, Honda will bring their brand new CBR250R to the Indian market. The bike sports a 250cc liquid-cooled, 4-valve, DOHC, fuel injected engine and 6-speed gearbox. Currently, the only 250cc bike available is the Kawasaki Ninja. According to our sources, the new CBR250R will run you a quite affordable 1.5 lakhs, and if you opt for the version without ABS it may even cost well below that. Most of the components will be local, and the bike is likely to be fully assembled in India.
This is great news for bike enthusiasts in India, and if the bike does well, the other Japanese manufacturers could well consider bringing in their performance bikes in the 300-400cc range. |
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Moto GP Team Mahindra |
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Mahindra & Mahindra seem to have a lot of things going their way this year, and after successfully venturing into the Indian two-wheeler segment, here’s some very exciting news.
Mahindra has created history by being the very first Indian corporation to create its own Moto GP Team. In the 2011 World Championship Moto GP season, Mahindra will compete in the 125cc class with its very own team. This comes just weeks after the company launched its range of motorcycles for the Indian Market. It’ll also be an opportunity for the company to flex its technological know-how on the world stage.
A couple of years ago, the company acquired Italian specialist engineering firm, Engines Engineering, and since then they have been increasing their portfolio to compete aggressively not just in India, but globally as well. The Moto GP is to bikes what the Formula 1 is to cars. This is huge for the company, and the country, especially since it was recently announced that a Moto GP race may be held at the Jaypee track in the NCR. We wish the Mahindra Team the very best of luck in their first Moto GP season. |
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