Indian Motorcycles looks to tap Tier 2, 3 Indian cities

Indian Motorcycles has been following a top-down approach for its India business, a little over two years after launching its super premium Chief range at a range-topping price tag of Rs 33 lakh.

This month, the brand’s most affordable motorcycle Scout 60, sporting a price tag of Rs 11.99 lakh, will go on sale. Along with the bike, Indian Motorcycles plans to launch a new dealership in Chandigarh, the seventh for the brand in India.

The Scout 60 will have the responsibility to expand the Indian brand’s base in India. With many Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities emerging as attractive automobile markets, Indian doesn’t want to lose the opportunity especially to woo the super achievers in these markets. “It is all about being successful. They can be in small towns as well. I am seeing a lot of customers who are not from the metros,” says Pankaj Dubey, MD, Polaris India.

Indian Motorcycles is owned by Polaris. That’s why its dealership number eight will also come up in a Tier 2 city. A dealership in Kochi is expected to be opened in September 2016. Other new markets on the radar are Jaipur, Pune, Bhuvaneshwar, Indore and Goa. Another metro, Kolkata, is also a market that the American brand is keen to be present in.

Dubey wants to end this year with a dealership count of around 12, and hopes to take the count to 16 next year. He wouldn’t divulge the number of Indians sold in India to date but says that one out of 10 motorcycles sold here in the market of 1200cc and Rs 14 lakh-plus motorcycles is an Indian.

Currently, Mumbai and Bangalore, which keep trading ranks, are the top two markets for the company. They are followed by Delhi and Ahmedabad. Chennai and Hyderabad are almost at the same level in terms of sales volume of Indian Motorcycles.