Harley-Davidson India imports completely assembled motorcycles from its US final assembly plants. Besides India, outside the US, the company has CKD assembly operations in Brazil.
After the Haryana facility will be operational, Harley-Davidson India will import CKD kits for select models from the company's US plants and employees at the Haryana facility will then assemble the components into finished motorcycles, the company added.
Harley-Davidson India commenced operations in August 2009 and currently offers 12 models in its 2010 line-up in India.
Days ahead of President Barack Obama's visit, US cult bike maker Harley Davidson on Tuesday said it will start assembling bikes in India from next year.
Harley Davidson first started selling its imported bikes in India from this year.
The strengthening of business ties between the two countries (US and India) gives us the confidence to invest further here," Harley Davidson India Managing Director Anoop Prakash told reporters.
After prolonged negotiations, India had relaxed emission norms for big bikes above 800cc in order to let Harley Davidson sell its products here after the US agreed to allow Indian mangoes to be sold there in 2007.
Prakash, however, declined to specify the installed capacity of the plant that would assemble completely knocked down (CKD) units of bikes. The company, which started selling its products since July this year, is expecting sell 200-250 units by the end of 2010, Prakash said.
iconic American superbike maker Harley Davidson is setting up an assembly unit at Bawal, Haryana. The move will help Harley substantially cut the price of its bikes in India. The domestic price of Harleys ranges from Rs 6.95 lakh to Rs 34.95 lakh-- BMW will also start operations in December.
Harley Davidson India Managing Director Anoop Prakash said, "We are evaluating the tariff structures
Harley Davidson currently offers 12 models belonging to five families: Sportster, Dyna, Softail, V-Rod and Touring-- Our customers do belong to a higher income group--. Priced at Rs 34.95 lakh, the Electra Glide is the most expensive model in the Harley Davidson portfolio at present. "Electra Glide is our touring flagship model-- Globally, Harley Davidson would sell 1,000 units of the Electra Glide," added Tripathi--"Delhi and Mumbai are our biggest markets.