India to be a global sourcing hub for affordable Triumphs

With Mr Vimal Sumbly, the newly appointed managing director of Triumph India, at the helm, the British motorcycle maker has charted out a two pronged strategy for the Indian market. Triumph will follow the top down approach into India, an approach that both luxury as well as budget automobile makers take in order to achieve a steady expansion and brand presence. Come November, Triumph will launch CKD assembled motorcycles in India, with assembly happening in the company's new facility at Manesar.

CKD models launched by Triumph could include the Bonneville, Street Triple 675, Daytona 675 and the Speed Triple. While CKD assembled models and high end CBU motorcycles such as the Rocket III, Storm and Tiger XC800 will make for the first of the two pronged strategy, the second will place a heavy emphasis on Indian manufacturing. Triumph has plans of making India a global hub for affordable sportsbikes aimed at both developed as well as the emerging markets of the world.

Triumph's upcoming facility at Narsapura, an industrial belt situated about 50 kilometers off Bangalore, will manufacture the new crop of lower priced motorcycles, ground up. Apart from entry-level motorcycles, Triumph could eventually build high volume products from its CKD range in India. Local manufacturing could make the likes of the Street Triple 675 and the Bonneville very attractively priced.

To aid its manufacturing effort in India, local sourcing is the other aspect that Triumph is expected to launch itself into. We've seen KTM achieve huge cost savings by locally sourcing parts for its small capacity Duke range that is contract manufactured by Bajaj Auto at Chakan. A similar story could pan out with Triumph as well, with the key difference being that the British brand could build motorcycles on its own steam instead of employing the services of a contract manufacturer. 

The first motorcycle to roll out of Triumph's Narsapura factory could be the new 300 cc sportsbike that will rival the likes of the Honda CBR250R, the Kawasaki Ninja 300R and the KTM Duke 390. Another key development is that Triumph could continue to CKD assemble its motorcycles at Manesar even after the Narsapura factory goes on stream. In such a scenario, the Manesar factory could be used to assemble CKD models with the Narsapura factory catering wholly to ground up manufacturing. 

Source LiveMint