[imp!]

I find it very hard to fathom that the Z900 sales are 65% of Triumphs TOTAL sales for the year. It is very evident to me that Harley, Kawasaki and Suzuki are the only manufacturers doing something right.

Now with more stories about Triumph A.S.S coming out of the wood works and the fantastic pricing that Kawasaki has managed to implement across their product line up, I really wonder what the future has in store for the European Marquees in India. Sure they are never going to compete on price, that much is evident, but they can on service and that is something that Triumph at-least has lost the plot.

Even their pre-sales seems strange. When they were desperate to move the last of their BS4 Striple Stock, the sales person gave me a call. When I told him the offered discounts weren't enough to entice me over waiting for the BS6 model, he scoffed at me while making fun of the fact I was interested in a 9% torque/power bump over owning a bike today. Truth be told, that attitude has really irked me. Before hanging up, I was informed that the first lot of Striples has been sold out, I can place an order depending on my colour preference for the second lot and no test ride bikes will be made available. Expected pricing to increase by a minimum of 1 lakh. I am very tempted to ignore the launch completely. If this is how they treat potential customers pre-sales, I wonder what it will be like once they have my money.