Polaris India mulls assembly unit in India

To open two new luxury bike showrooms by January 2017

Eyeing the growing luxury bike segment in India, Polaris India Private Limited, a wholly own subsidiary of the United States-based Polaris Industries Inc is considering setting up an assembly unit in India. Currently, the company imports it's all models.

According to Pankaj Dubey, managing director of Polaris India, the idea is still in early stages and may take two years to execute.

"Luxury bike segment in India is growing at the rate of 25% annually and it will continue in coming days. We are currently importing all our models to India. Looking at the demand, we may set up an assembly unit in the country. However the thought is yet not final and it may take about two years to execute," said Dubey.

The company is open to setting up the assembly unit near a port for ease of imports of components. "If we assemble our models in India we would prefer closer to a port to ease import of components," said Dubey.

Polaris is also set to open two new franchisee based showrooms in Kochin and Jaipur, taking the total number of showrooms to 10 across India by January 2017.

The overall luxury bike market in India is estimated at about 10,000 bikes a year. Of these, 1,500 bikes have been sold at prices of over Rs 15 lakh. Polaris holds a 10% market share in India in superbike segment.

The company also launched two new models Indian Springfield and Chieftain Dark Horse nationally from its Ahmedabad showroom in Gujarat. It had opened its showroom at Ahmedabad in November 2015 and within one year it has sold 24 superbikes in Gujarat.