[TusharK]

Sales of high-end, imported bikes doubled within weeks following the government's announcement to reduce import duty on completely built unit (CBU) motorcycles.



In the 500-1,000 cc segment, 1,391 units were sold during February and March 2018, which is 12% higher compared to the same period last year. In the 1000 cc and above segment, 500 units were sold during this period, up by 41% compared to last year.

In February 2018, the government reduced the import duty on CBU bikes with engines larger than 500 cc to 50%. This resulted in a price cut of Rs. 1-5 lakh depending on the segment. Earlier, bikes with engine capacities ranging from 500-800 cc attracted 65% import duty, while those with engines larger than 800 cc attracted 75% duty. Import duty on completely knocked down (CKD) kits was also reduced from 30% to 25%.

According to Panjaj Dubey, Managing Director, Indian Motorcycle, the company's volumes had dropped by 20-30% last year. However, in 2018, the bike maker is expecting a growth of 60-70%.

Tax on locally assembled bikes has been increased by 5.75% and this has adversely affected brands like Triumph that build majority of their motorcycles locally.

Source: ET Auto

Link to Team-BHP News

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

And we had this discussions just two months back -

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...17-18-why.html

SIAM probably jumped the gun and predicted a decline in Feb itself instead of waiting for the full financial year.

Like I said back then, its too early for the sales of high performance motorcycles to taper off in India - infact the party is only getting started as 99.99% of the market is still not even migrated to the 350cc stage. Many still appreciate a 350cc thanks to Royal Enfield (and not to forgot the 390 KTM), but with the launch of the twins - people will soon start appreciate 500cc+ machines in greater numbers. Companies like Harley Davidson are just started to move into the Tier-II cities, which should prove interesting too.

The higher numbers for the last two months should be the result of Harley Davidson (lot of offers on the Street series) and Kawasaki (Almost double the sales from last year). Many new comers entered the scene too and many new vehicles are likely to be launched in the coming months as well (New Tigers, BMW 750 and 850, Suzuki GSXS750, VStorm 650 XT, CKD production of ZX10R, Royal Enfield's 650 range etc).

Originally Posted by TusharK

Tax on locally assembled bikes has been increased by 5.75% and this has adversely affected brands like Triumph that build majority of their motorcycles locally.

While this is true, no doubt, Triumph really need to work harder on their pricing strategy. They have been consistently falling in sales on a monthly basis, well before this new tax was implemented - so just crying about the added 5.75% tax doesn't get them anywhere.

[SmartCat]

I'm going to keep my opinion to myself because next month's Economic Times headlines might say "Big bike sales falling into an abyss"

[bigron]

Well good news this.
Now only if KTM can bring in their adventure tourer to shake things up in the open class adventure category.

[theMAG]

Its always nice to be at the beginning of a new growth cycle; its interesting how trends can be completely different based on where a market is. By contrast to this news, the developed motorcycle market of the US is in decline, with Harley-Davidson grappling with a 4th consecutive year of dwindling sales and had to close a main production plant as a result.

[Happysmiles]

Originally Posted by bigron

Well good news this.
Now only if KTM can bring in their adventure tourer to shake things up in the open class adventure category.

Suzuki vstrorm 650 and SWM 650 will also shake things up. Sales will surely get better. The smaller 310 /390 cc Adv Touring bikes, if and when they get launched will make things very interesting.