[vamsi.kona]

Originally Posted by srishiva

So this means that Bajaj thinks it cannot on its own do something in some of the higher niche segments. They need to partner and build with a established name. They offer their country specific or low cost design/supply chain/manufacturing services. It differs from TVS which markets the bikes with BMW in their own brand name.

I would say this is more to reach out to customer base in areas where it has no presence and as such a brand such as Triumph would make it visible. As for Triumph it would help in making its presence in mid segment, without diluting its brand value. A win-win for both I think. Because for Bajaj or any manufacturer, building a brand from ground up in new locations is time consuming.

[NiInJa]

I think apart from cubic capacity, Bajaj is also attempting to cover all age groups with the kind of brands they are tying up with. Take my example, I am inching towards thirties and ride and R15, I no longer feel impressed by KTM naked bikes (they are exceptional machines no doubt), I used to loved naked street bikes in my early twenties but not now. The likes of R15 or CBR 250 also don't seem to interest me anymore (I enjoy riding the bike but still).

I have started developing an itch for an easy riding machine : RE Thunderbird or Bajaj Avenger or even the Vespa, but I just dont see the point in investing in a dated product (Avenger having less aspirational value) or an unreliable machine with quality issues (Royal Enfield), that leaves me with bikes which are much above the budget, not to mention the risk that my wife would leave me for spending a bomb on a bike

I have no clue what this partnership means technically, but lets hope it brings something good to the table err.. showrooms !

[Vikram8891]

Originally Posted by LordSharan

Do you own a dominar? why do you think this is a failure?

My brother owns one, and I agree it has its flaws, but it serves its purpose. Has been reliable till date (Touchwood), has excellent highway manners, beautiful & functional headlight and the list goes on. Why would people prefer RE over Dominar when it comes to cruisers? I'd say they are just fan boys and nothing wrong in that. For someone who wants a relatively modern cruiser, the Dominar serves its purpose beautifully.

Coming back to topic- I never saw this partnership coming, and given the speculation of acquisition of Ducati by Bajaj, this comes as a surprise. A pleasant one though.

If this partnership turns out to be as productive as Bajaj-KTM, we have a winner on our hands. As Bajaj has no shareholding in Triumph, it might not be the case. Fingers crossed though, and let's see what happens next.

These things though reaffirm my faith in Bajaj. They are unlike Hero and Honda, willing to give what public wants and at an affordable cost. Which is extremely awesome, when you realize that Bajaj is an Indian brand
- like Hero, which will probably throw away its legacy by being lethargic and focused on commuters
- unlike Honda, which will never bring the x-factor in its bikes despite the tremendous technology and experience it has.

The only other brand that rivals Bajaj in this space is Yamaha, but their strategy is a hit (with R15, FZ) and a miss (with the horrendous FZ25 coming up). Additionally, they are let down by the premium (completely justified but can not be ignored when making a purchase decision) they charge.

Yes I do own one (I mentioned it didnt I?). I am not saying it is a flawed product, but the falling sales figures are showing that people havent taken to it as well, hence my comment.

The initial hype, has died down and the claim by Bajaj that it will be selling more than 10000 units a month is nowhere near the horizon also.

I also own a 2013 NS and clearly though it was a great bike, it wasnt accepted by the market and finally discontinued. Again please dont read too heavily into this point, I just wanted to say that I am not against Bajaj and have owned their bikes for a good duration.

[theredliner]

This was a big surprise as mentioned before, but the targeted segment doesn't interest me much. Problem in India is not the 200-500 segment. Problem lies in the overpriced 600+ cc segment.

I would be very happy if this partnership leads to Bajaj manufacturing Daytona, Street Triple etc. in India while adhering to Triumph's QC standards. Bikes like Daytona really need to go through a big price cut. Local manufacturing would bring the pricing down to ~8L levels I believe. Then again, I am day dreaming as the volumes may not be enough in the near future to recover cost of investment.

[payeng]

Originally Posted by Vikram8891

Yes I do own one (I mentioned it didnt I?). I am not saying it is a flawed product, but the falling sales figures are showing that people havent taken to it as well, hence my comment.

The initial hype, has died down and the claim by Bajaj that it will be selling more than 10000 units a month is nowhere near the horizon also.

Excuse me but there has been NO HYPE (no ATL Promotion) at all.

The common Indian consumer would not be aware that a bike called DOMINAR that exists. Not every consumer keeps a tab of what's new in the market like an enthusiast.

It's only been a few months since the Dominar's launch. It's high time some HYPE (TVCs) is created.

Just saw on TV that one of the sponsor's of the India-australia cricket series is DOMINAR 400.

It's NOT a Niche market that Bajaj is targeting at with the Dominar. And for Mass Market ambitions, a NEW product needs Mass Promotion.

[Vikram8891]

Originally Posted by payeng

Excuse me but there has been NO HYPE (no ATL Promotion) at all.

The common Indian consumer would not be aware that a bike called DOMINAR that exists. Not every consumer keeps a tab of what's new in the market like an enthusiast.

It's only been a few months since the Dominar's launch. It's high time some HYPE (TVCs) is created.

Just saw on TV that one of the sponsor's of the India-australia cricket series is DOMINAR 400.

It's NOT a Niche market that Bajaj is targeting at with the Dominar. And for Mass Market ambitions, a NEW product needs Mass Promotion.

My bad, by initial hype I meant amongst the people who are more aware of the biking scenario/launches. I agree with you fully that there was no bombardment of ads. The same was the case with the NS too, they had just one ad for a very short duration and low frequency. Even 2 years after owning the bike, people would ask me which bike it was. The same is happening with the Dominar too. The common man does not know that such a bike exists.

Anyway, i dont want to take this off topic, if the aim of the partnership is to indeed bring new 500 CC + products in the Indian market then its great news.

[Srikanthan]

I expect this to be a win-win situation for customers, companies and the country as well.

1. Bajaj has most infrastructure ready
2. Triumph brings in technology
3. Customer gets those motorcycles at a lower price - Make In India

I'm personally interested in Tiger range of motorcycles from Triumph and eagerly waiting for their prices to come down by this alliance.

[Mafia]

Originally Posted by Srikanthan

I expect this to be a win-win situation for customers, companies and the country as well.

1. Bajaj has most infrastructure ready
2. Triumph brings in technology
3. Customer gets those motorcycles at a lower price - Make In India

I'm personally interested in Tiger range of motorcycles from Triumph and eagerly waiting for their prices to come down by this alliance.

Is this alliance going to make a difference to the existing line up? AFAIK triumph already has a setup for the their existing motorcycles.

I assumed they are going to focus on sub 600cc.

[timuseravan]

Originally Posted by Srikanthan

I'm personally interested in Tiger range of motorcycles from Triumph and eagerly waiting for their prices to come down by this alliance.

The alliance is for lower end bikes only (i.e. < 600-700cc).
My dream is Tiger 500/600 priced around 5 lakh. I know seems unrealistic but maybe the Bajaj branded variant will be in this ball park.

[FasterSon]

Wonderful news! I am not sure why this middle segment has not seen any competition!
Many of us who have used bikes all our lives want to definitely own one even after we have bought cars. None of the companies were willing to venture into upgrade products invoking nostalgia except the unipolar Enfield.
Thank god for Bajaj for the variety and also with Mahindra bringing in jawa, this segment is alive now!
Honda mentions about being busy developing scooters! seriously..such a big experienced company put all their thinktank into activa line up and none were free to even think about anything else?!

[payeng]

Originally Posted by FasterSon

Wonderful news! I am not sure why this middle segment has not seen any competition!

Harley Davidson makes the Street 750 in India (also makes and exports the Street 500).

Originally Posted by FasterSon

Honda mentions about being busy developing scooters! seriously..such a big experienced company put all their thinktank into activa line up and none were free to even think about anything else?!

Can't blame them. It's a DREAM for any business to have BEHEMOTH and JUGGERNAUT Brands like Splendor and Activa that sells a mind boggling Half Million plus units (both combined) every month.

[FasterSon]

Street 750 costs upwards of 6lacks and is Harley's entry bike.
What I meant was about Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki's apathy towards our market even though all of them have 400cc bikes in other markets.
Suzuki came up with inazuma which is marketed as a trainer bike if I am terming it right.
I do understand it has to do with the economy of numbers but these are company with strong presence in the country and would it not help their cause to embark on ventures. I realise I am missing the fine print in such ventures but is it not apathy from their side?
Activa is a established brand and I am surprised Honda waits so long to even consider giving us a mid range bike let alone variants in the segment.
Corporate world is a sucker is what I mean or am I reading the whole scenario completely wrong?

[payeng]

Originally Posted by FasterSon

Street 750 costs upwards of 6lacks and is Harley's entry bike.
What I meant was about Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki's apathy towards our market even though all of them have 400cc bikes in other markets.
Suzuki came up with inazuma which is marketed as a trainer bike if I am terming it right.

I do understand it has to do with the economy of numbers but these are company with strong presence in the country and would it not help their cause to embark on ventures. I realise I am missing the fine print in such ventures but is it not apathy from their side?

Activa is a established brand and I am surprised Honda waits so long to even consider giving us a mid range bike let alone variants in the segment. Corporate world is a sucker is what I mean or am I reading the whole scenario completely wrong?

Honda did consider India apart from Thailand as the only market in the world to manufacture the CBR250R... but we all know that the Indian public went gaga on the RE Classic's instead.

CBR250R had to be ceased eventually by Honda, a company which normally enjoy's the reputation of not discontinuing models.

Now place your self in a corporate position at Honda and now try to convince the top management to invest Time, Money and Resources in trying to bring in Newer, Bigger and More Expensive models for India.

[FasterSon]

Yes, CBR story is quite a debacle. Being what it was it lost out to R15. Dohc loosing out to sohc! Myself an owner of a R15! But I have the excuse that I made the buy in 2009 when I did not have the choice of CBR. I set out to buy a really really good bike with my initial earnings as an intern back then.

What drives the buyers these days is such a enigma! Generally, we Indians are definitely cheapos when it comes to our bikes. We find a real palpable joy in making a bargain and saving money than spend it on something really worth a joy! And what do we do with the saved money?! God knows how does those savings evaporate! I am not being very critical here. I know the financial restrictions all of us have to different extents.

This discussion in some other forum shows what I mean. It was about value for money, quality of the bike product and such. One guy for quality gave another guy who was for vfm, a scenario where he had to choose between KTM and Ninja as a gift. And the guy replied that he would take ninja and sell it and buy a KTM and enjoy the saved money! And he found so many supporters and so very few who tried telling him of what he was miss out on. What a pseudo genius!

Our traffic, road conditions, cheap mindedness does not make it conducive for the international models sure. There were sure examples of smaller players, in India as well all over the world, who tried filling the gap, and failed for various reasons. But with the ideal engines available I feel the big Japanese companies branded us fit only for smaller moped type models compared to what they dish out to other countries. If they would have come out with conducive models and manufacturing for us unlike just one model in the CBR, I am sure they would not be running loss in those segments. And probably we would be a maturer customer base by now, making us the most profitable bike country by now.

Target driven corporate working at its best example for me. Even now eventually when Japanese come out with suitable models people will buy it without any grudge. I am just saying.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by FasterSon

Yes, CBR story is quite a debacle. Being what it was it lost out to r15. Dohc loosing out to sohc!

Can you please enlighten me about this statement?

I have been on R15 (both gen 1 and gen 2) for thousands of kilometers, and have also owned a CBR 250R for 15000 km. IMO, there is no contest between both. Probably R15 trumps CBR 250R in handling and looks. CBR250R was an allrounder, a better performer and it was a lot more comfortable and safer(ABS) than the R15.

CBR 250R was a popular model till 2013,when KTM rocked the market with the Duke 390 launch. If CBR 250R was priced well, it sure would have found a lot more buyers.

And the buyer who was looking at R15 may never have considered CBR 250R considering the 80000 rupees premium the CBR 250R commanded over the R15.