Make in India: TVS Motor's facility produces 17% of BMW bikes globally

TVS Motor's facility in Tamil Nadu emerged as one of the largest production bases for BMW bikes. The facility located at Hosur is producing around 17 per cent of BMW Motorcycles's volumes globally. The partners are expected to strengthen the partnership further with more products for the global and domestic markets.

Analysts and sources close to the companies have said that it's a win-win for the partners. For BMW TVS facility offers low cost and high quality manufacturing solution for India and global markets, for TVS the tie-up augurs well and it is looking to accelerate the premium segment with few more new launches to improve profitability as these products come with high margins .

German Consul General Karin Stoll said that around 17 per cent of BMW bikes worldwide are produced at TVS Hosur facility, near Chennai. She said "this is yet another amazing IndoGerman technology plus manufacturing partnership."

The G 310 R and the BMW 310 GS are developed in Munich, Germany by BMW Motorrad and produced only at Hosur facility globally.

In 2016, TVS started production of BMW bikes and since then the company has produced 79,088 units, of which 73,183 units were exported and 5,905 units were sold in India. The facility caters  to over 100 countries, including BMW's home country Germany.

BMW Motorrad officially started its operations as a part of the Indian subsidiary of BMW Group in 2017. Besides its own plant in Germany, company's contract manufacturing partners are in India (TVS) and China (Loncin). The Chinese facility is more a scooter manufacturing unit.

Among the two, sources have said that TVS facility is doing well when it comes to volumes and even business wise.

"BMW’s premium quality is ensured at these locations by close cooperation with the Berlin lead plant, enabling us to continuously expand our model range and implement new products that meet customers’ demand," said the company's spokesperson.

"For India, the G 310 motorcycles present an enormous opportunity for BMW Motorrad’s ambitions. They have gained phenomenal popularity and are the biggest contributors to BMW Motorrad India’s success today. They have been driving the momentum with a share of over 85% in yearly sales. Since launch, over 5,000 units of the BMW G 310 models have been sold in India. Most importantly, the BMW G 310 models have created a gateway for motorcycling enthusiasts to own a premium product from their favorite brand," he said.

For TVS Motor, the tie-up accelerates its journey on the road to drive its margin on the backdrop of premiumisation, which gained momentum in TVS from 2005 with the 150cc performance bike TVS Apache. Since then, it has steadily accelerated this premium drive with the recently-acquired British legacy brand Norton and a high-end 200cc brand called Zeppelin on the launch pad.

The company claims that this will outperform traditional motorcycles in the 200-250cc segment. All these offerings will add to the portfolio of performance bikes that TVS has launched in the past five years. These ranged from 160-310cc under the Apache (Rs 98,050 to Rs 2.45 lakh), Ntroq (Rs 66,885-73,365) and iQube (Rs 1.15 lakh) brands.

The TVS Apache series and TVS NTORQ 125 together account for 30 per cent of TVS Motor volumes.

The TVS Apache series – TVS’ most reliable racehorse – has a market share of roughly 23 per  cent market share in the premium motorcycle category, with over 3.5 million customers.

TVS Apache RR 310 is based on a BMW  platform and the company claims it is one of the company’s most successful products in domestic and export markets

Meanwhile, analysts and experts have said success of such tie-ups may spur for such collaborations. Besides, TVS-BMW, British motorcycle brand Triumph joined hands with Bajaj Auto for non-equity global partnership to manufacture a new range of mid-capacity motorcycles in the country. Hero MotoCorp announced an agreement with Harley-Davidson, but its more a master distribution tie-up by which Hero will sell Harley-Davidson's vehicles.