Bonneville, Thruxton lead Triumph’s India sales charge

Triumph Motorcycles is closing in on its sales target of 500 units in the first six months of operations in India. The iconic British bike manufacturer claims to have clocked 335 bookings across its 11-model portfolio so far, with the Bonneville and Thruxton café racer from its modern classic family jointly contributing to around 45-50 percent of total sales.

Triumph’s line-up for India includes the classic Bonneville and Bonneville T100, Speed Triple, Street Triple, Thruxton café racer, Tiger 800 XC and Tiger Explorer, Storm and Rocket III Roadster and the super-sports bikes, the Daytona 675 and the 675R.

The product range for India is a combination of completely built units (CBUs) brought in from Triumph’s plant in Thailand and bikes that are assembled in from CKD kits at the manufacturer’s assembly facility in Manesar, Haryana that will be used for assembly operations till Triumph’s Karnataka plant opens.

Earlier today, Triumph Motorcycles India opened its first  dealership in Pune today. B U Bhandari Triumph is the fourth dealership for the company, with the first three being located in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi. Chasing its retail plan of setting up nine dealerships by end-June 2014, the company plans to officially inaugurate its dealership in Ahmedabad on May 2 and in Mumbai on May 3. Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata are the other three final locations to get Triumph dealerships later this year.

“Pune has a lively biking culture with some great biking routes in and around the city. We are sure to get a great response from the enthusiasts here. We want to offer Triumph lovers not just a product but an overall experience that they deserve from a globally renowned brand like ours. Partnering with B U Bhandari, which has a state-of-the-art dealership, has only facilitated it further,” said Vimal Sumbly, MD, Triumph Motorcycles India.

The Pune dealership (based on Triumph’s signature global layout) has an ultra-modern showroom integrated with an aftersales service facility featuring service bays and a spare parts inventory. The facility will also sell Triumph’s merchandise which includes riding gear, accessories and memorabilia. The staff at B U Bhandari Triumph has been provided with training in management of sales, service, spare parts and business systems. The major part of the training was carried out at Triumph’s Manesar assembly plant.

Describing the growth in the premium motorcycle  segment (over 500cc), Sumbly said, “The India market stood at 441 units in 2009-10, 887 units in 2010-11, 1541 units in 2011-12 and 2480 units in 2012-13. Our sales plan for the first eight months was to sell 400-500 units, followed by over 1,000 units in 2013-14 and over 1,500 units in 2014-15.”

Triumph Motorcycles currently builds around 50,000 bikes a year and has over 740 dealers worldwide.

Photographs: The Bonneville and Thruxton are bringing in the bulk of the India sales for Triumph.