[JayPrashanth]

United States based Polaris Industries has a finger in many pies. From snowmobiles to ATVs and from watercraft to cruiser motorcycles, Polaris' interest spans across various automotive segments. Royal Enfield is a flagship motorcycle maker of the Eicher group, a specialist retro motorcycle maker whose focus is intense and narrow, in the middle weight motorcycle segment with two engine lines, 350cc and 500cc. Last year, Eicher and Polaris signed an accord to develop a four wheeler, perhaps a quadricycle or a small car, to target the personal mobility space. A FinancialExpress report carried by TheIndianExpress states that Polaris and Eicher could be looking at a larger framework of understanding and collaboration that also involves Royal Enfield.



While Royal Enfield, by Eicher CEO Mr Siddhartha Lal's own admission, will operate in the sub 800cc middle weight motorcycle category in markets across the globe, the motorcycle maker is yet to launch any product in the multiple cylinder category. It is here that Polaris could jump in to fill the void by providing Royal Enfield technology to build V-Twin motorcycles. For the record, Polaris owns two cruiser motorcycle brands, Indian and Victory, both centered in the United States. Polaris has plans of selling its Victory line of motorcycle in India and the tie up with Royal Enfield has an additional dimension too. Polaris could use Royal Enfield's now idle Jaipur manufacturing facility at Rajasthan, to assemble the Victory line of cruisers. (For a brief period of time, Royal Enfield built motorcycles at its Jaipur factory, which has since been left to idle).



With CBU imports slapped with ever increasing import duties, CKD assembly would mean that Polaris will be able to compete against Harley Davidson's line of cruiser motorcycles. For now though, both companies haven't made an official statement about CKD assembly of Victory cruiser motorcycles in India. Coming back to the possible tie up between Polaris and Royal Enfield, a new high capacity motorcycle, say over 800cc to compete with the Harley Davidsons of this world could eventually spawn from this alliance, protecting both Polaris and Royal Enfield's respective turfs from the American cruiser giant. We've seen such alliances materialize between Bajaj Auto-KTM and TVS Motors-BMW Motorrad. So,there might be more than that just meets the eye going on between Royal Enfield and Polaris.

[Srini76]

Hey Prasanth,

Yes, The Polaris/RE tie-up in my understanding is done deal. I have information from RE that this alliance is initially going to cater to the ATV segment with a scope for expansion. I am fairly confident of this information for I have also come across recruiters seeking to fill positions for this alliance which in my mind reiterates a deal closure in some form, unless of course they are jumping the gun out of sheer enthusiasm.

I would presume the source of the information to be authentic as we are suppliers to RE and have been spoken to about this a few times.

Rgds,

Srini

[volkman10]

Eicher-Polaris personal 4 wheeler to roll out in 2015.

Eicher has a rich experience in automotive industry which includes Royal Enfield bikes and fleet of commercial vehicles and tractors and on the other hand, US-based Polaris, one of the top off-road vehicle and snowmobile maker will share 125 crore each(250 crores in total) and vast experience over the span of three years to develop this vehicle. They are currently looking for an apt location in India to set up the plant.
This would be a new personal four wheeler will not be a quadricycle but rather an all terrain vehicle between a car and a bike. This vehicle could also borrow some parts from former Polaris ATVs too.

This is rumored to be entry-level passenger vehicle segment, much in the same way as the Tata Nano.

http://www.autocolumn.com/2014/02/polaris-4-wheeler/

[kthrottle]

The test mules are already doing rounds on Faridabad Gurgaon Road.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commer...ml#post3376908

[TheDevil]

Oh God! Victory coming here is such AMAZING news!! TY, OP.