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January 14, 2008 11:42 IST
Triumph, the over 100-year old bike company, is all set to ride into India this year. The Leicestershire-based company is currently looking for an Indian partner, who could handle the imports and distribution in the subcontinent.
The company will increase the range of models after evaluating the response to the initial lot, which will be available in select outlets later this year.
Peter Huckin, export sales co-coordinator, Triumph Motorcycles, said, "We are in talks with some of the Indian manufacturers, who have the expertise to market and sell Triumph bikes here. The talks should fructify before the year end."
The Triumph executive, however, declined to comment on the companies, which were in talks with it. Sources said Bajaj might be one of the companies the UK group is holding talks with. Representatives of Bajaj, which was reportedly negotiating with Triumph for an equity buyout, had visited the company's plants in the UK. However, according to Huckin, there were no talks of stake sale to the Indian company.
The company currently has no plans to manufacture the cult bikes in the country and plans to bring the motorcycle as completely built unit. It believes that the market for high capacity bikes in India is very encouraging. Huckin said, "India is an emerging market with high aspirations. There sure lies a market for Triumph here."
Even as the company is charting out its India plans, it remains undecided about the number of bikes it will import every year. It will disclose the pricing details only when proper import duties are levied on the bike. The retail price of the cheapest Triumph bike is 5,000 pounds (approximately Rs 3.85 lakhs), while the most expensive one is available at 12,500 pounds (approximately Rs 9.62 lakhs).
Triumph's debut in India follows similar interest shown by other two-wheeler biggies, including Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Harley Davidson to name a few.
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