Bajaj Auto and its partner Triumph Motorcycles have announced the transfer of the British bikemaker’s India sales and marketing operation to the Pune-based OEM. This follows the inking of the strategic partnership between the two companies in January 2020 under which both bikemakers confirmed that they would jointly collaborate to develop a new range of midsized Triumph motorcycles.

Triumph’s India sales network transfer launches the next phase of the partnership, effective from April 1, 2023, where all the current 15 Triumph Motorcycle dealerships will be managed by Bajaj Auto. Bajaj Auto plans to launch Triumph dealerships in over 120 cities in the next two years, which means an aggressive network expansion operation will be implemented.  

Triumph dealers in India will now become the fifth exclusive retail channel for Bajaj Auto along with the four distinct and exclusive dealership networks for KTM, Bajaj Motorcycles, Chetak Electric and Bajaj three-wheelers comprising over 6,000 dealers and sub-dealers across Bajaj’s brand portfolio in India. All the existing Triumph dealerships will remain exclusive to the brand and continue to provide a high customer experience in line with Triumph’s global standards.

Creating a new entry point to Brand Triumph

In January 2020, the two companies had confirmed the plan to build a new engine and vehicle platform in the mid-capacity (200cc-750cc) range and offer multiple options to address different segments in this class. Targeted at the aspirational biker audience, the pricing strategy, when announced three years ago, was planned to start under Rs 200,000 in India. This essentially is to create a new entry point to the Triumph range around the world and ensure Triumph can compete in important large segments of the global motorcycle market and thereby attract new customers to the brand.

The specific timeline for the launch of the new midsized Triumph motorcycles, which have been jointly developed by the two OEMs and will be built at Bajaj Auto’s Chakan plant, has not been detailed. Nevertheless, the launch of the new motorcycles, which will benefit from the combined strengths of the two majors in the areas of design technology and cost-competitive manufacturing, is is slated for later this year.

Talking about the strategic partnership, Rakesh Sharma, Executive Director, Bajaj Auto, said: “We welcome the Triumph dealerships into the Bajaj Auto family and offer them an opportunity to further build their business as the portfolio expands. We will also leverage our formidable distribution network to rapidly expand the exclusive Triumph stores in India in preparation for the soon-to-be-launched, exciting new motorcycles.”

Paul Stroud, Chief Commercial Officer Triumph Motorcycles said: “This is an important partnership for Triumph which continues to progress very well. The Triumph dealer network has been great business partners for Triumph. They have achieved many great results with Triumph Motorcycles here in India and have served our 9,000-plus customers incredibly well since we entered the market back in 2014. We are excited about the growth that we can now achieve through our partnership with Bajaj Auto, here in India, and look forward to welcoming many more customers to the Triumph brand.”