Triumph UK and Bajaj Auto India has agreed on
a non-equity partnership. With this collaboration, Bajaj will make bikes for
Triumph using its cost-effective manufacturing techniques and will be sold for
the local and export market, states a report from CarAndBike.
The report also states that the first mid-segment
bike (250 cc – 500 cc) from the marriage of the Indian and British brand will
take two to three years to develop and launch. It will be a Triumph motorcycle,
made by Bajaj. The website’s sources state that Triumph will design and
engineer the bikes; while the Indian brand will take care of the sourcing and
manufacturing at its Chakan plant.
Triumph had shown a sketch of its future 250 cc
motorcycle at the EICMA in Milan back in 2013. The following September, the
brand’s then marketing director Paul Stroud said Triumph had “placed the 250cc
bike project on hold for strategic reasons relating to its specific segment.”
It is unclear if the same motorcycle is back into focus with the Bajaj
partnership. Triumph intended to independently manufacture the low capacity
motorcycle in India for domestic and exports.
From this partnership, expect multiple variants of
the mid-size motorcycle as well. The affordable motorcycles from the partnership
will help the British company penetrate into the smaller, developing markets.
In India, the products will compete with the offerings from the TVS-BMW
collaboration and also Royal Enfield, according to the report.
The website’s sources say that currently there are
no plans for Bajaj to introduce new bikes out of the partnership. Expect more
details once the two brands’ arrangement advances.
Apart from this partnership, Bajaj Auto is also set
to bring Husqvarna in India next year. While KTM is about value-for-money
products, Bajaj will place the Swedish brand at the premium end of the market,
above KTM.
