IAB Report - Harley to launch Street 750 at Auto Expo, priced under 5 lakhs on-road

07/11/2013 - 13:21 | ,  ,   | Anjan Ravi

After the big unveil in Milan, Italy, Mr. Anoop Prakash, Managing Director, Harley-Davidson (HD) India spoke to Indian Autos Blog about the Street's launch in India, the expected pricing and other details about its manufacturing and exports.

For India, HD will launch only the Street 750 for now. The Street 500 is not in the company's immediate plans, though a future launch was not ruled out by Mr. Prakash.

Harley Davidson Street 750 rear three quarter
For India, HD will launch only the Street 750.

The Indian public will get to see the Street 750 for the first time at the India Bike Week (which takes place on January 17-18 in Goa). Post that, the Harley-Davidson Street 750 will be showcased at the 2014 Auto Expo, where the price announcement will also be made. Mr. Prakash confirmed that the on-road price will be below INR 5 lakhs (in the American market the 750 is priced at USD 7,500 which converts to INR 4.67 lakhs). Bookings will commence right after the Auto Expo, while first deliveries will take place after the start of the fiscal year.

The Streets will be manufactured in two locations worldwide - America and India. While Harley's Kansas City facility will cater only to the American, Mexican and Canadian demand, the Bawal facility will be responsible for exporting the Streets to other global destinations, apart from catering to the Indian demand.

In 2014, the Bawal plant will make 7,000-10,000 Streets (500 and 750 combined) for local and export demand. Initially, India will export to Portugal, Italy and Spain, and within the next two years, Harley would have launched the Streets in other European and Asian markets.

Harley Davidson Street 500
Production of the Streets will be from the US and India.

While the company did not wish to break out the localization content of the Streets, we were informed that among the many global vendors, there were a few Indian suppliers as well.

Market research for the Streets began earlier in 2008. Over 3,000 customer interactions were conducted across 10 global locations, and in India, inputs were taken from non-Harley bikers in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Which is probably the reason why the Streets sport the highest ground clearance among any other HDs (2 inches more than the highest Sportster). That being said, the design, styling and engineering were done in the United States.

Harley Davidson Street 500 side 3
The design, styling and engineering of the Streets took place in the United States.

Currently, India is the third largest market for HD in Asia-Pacific (Japan is the first, while Australia is the second). In December 2012, the company announced cumulative sales of 2,000 units since operations began in 2009-10. By the end of this year, that number is expected to touch 4,000, meaning that nearly 2,000 HDs were sold in India in 2013.

HD India will inaugurate new showrooms in Goa and Pune by the end of November this year, and by mid-December, Jaipur too will have a HD showroom. The company plans to open at least 3 showrooms next year, targeting Tier II cities such as Surat, Coimbatore, Guwahati and Calicut.

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