Triumph India's motorcycles to roll out by November 2013

Triumph Motorcycles India, the Indian division of the British motorcycle maker, has appointed a new managing director. Mr. Vimal Sumbly, formerly with Bajaj Auto as a General Manager of Sales, has moved to Triumph India as its managing director. Mr. Sumbly is the actual replacement to Mr. Ashish Joshi, who quit as Triumph India's managing director many months ago, quite suddenly. In the interim, Triumph had appointed two British executives to oversee its Indian operations. 

Mr Joshi's exit from Triumph India seemingly slowed down the British motorcycle maker's plans for the country. Now though, Triumph India's Facebook is a hub of activity with key announcements made. The motorcycle maker's official Facebook page has revealed that the Triumph range of motorcycles would begin rolling onto Indian roads by November 2013. 

The motorcycle maker is said to be readying up an assembly facility at Manesar for CKD assembly of 4 out of 7 bikes to be launched in India. The other 3 bikes will be imported into India through the CBU route. The 4 bikes said to be on the anvil for CKD assembly are the Triumph Bonneville, Street Triple 675, Daytona 675 and the Speed Triple.

The Tiger 800XC dual purpose bike, Storm Cruiser and the flagship Rocket III motorcycles are expected to be imported into India through the CBU route. Although Triumph had announced prices for its 7 bike range at the 2012 Indian Auto Expo, the revision of these prices are likely due to the steeply depreciating Indian Rupee.   

Notably, the CKD assembly facility at Manesar could be a stop gap considering the fact that Triumph has plans of building a full fledged manufacturing facility at Narsapura, off Bangalore. Once the Narsapura factory is ready, production and assembly is expected to shift there from Manesar.

Triumph is said to be developing a 300cc sportsbike, aimed at the small capacity motorcycle market across the globe. India is expected to serve as a hub for the manufacture of Triumph's 300cc motorcycle. Many motorcycle makers have been leveraging India's advantage as a low cost-high quality manufacturing destination.

For instance, KTM builds the small capacity Duke range for export markets through Bajaj Auto. BMW Motorrad will execute a similar strategy with TVS Motors in the coming years. Soon, Triumph could announce details of its dealerships in three Indian cities: Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, with other cities such as Pune, Chennai, Panaji (Goa), Kochi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Hyderabad to make for the second list of dealerships.