We expect to grow 15-20% this fiscal: Triumph Motorcycles' Shoeb Farooq

Firm plans to launch pre-owned vehicles in India next month. Today the brand has 7,000 customers here and the India Business Head says that would be good enough to start the programme

Despite the pandemic, the British premium motorcycle maker Triumph Motorcycles is expecting its sales to grow by around 15-20 per cent this fiscal in India. The company has also lined up new products and plans to roll out its pre-owned vehicles programme in India.

This comes at a time the iconic American cruiser Harley-Davidson decided to exit from India and the premium two-wheeler segment (above 500cc) in the last 12 months reported a 35 per cent de-growth. The size of the market was estimated to be around 26,000-27,000 units last year.

"Even in a scenario of de-growth, we did much better than the industry. We were lower by around 10 per cent (in sales) compared to last year. In 2020-21 we are expecting a growth of 15-20 per cent or retail sales of 1,000 units  as against 800 last year," Triumph Motorcycles India's Business Head Shoeb Farooq told Business Standard after inaugurating a new dealership in Chennai taking the total to 14 in the country.

While declining to comment on Harley Davidson's exit, he attributed Triumph's performance to new products and aggressive pricing, which makes the offerings more accessible. He said since premium motorcycles are discretionary purchases, the recovery is slower.

"We need to keep exciting the customer and should give him a reason to keep visiting our showrooms," said Farooq.

The company had started launching its BS-VI compliant models from January onwards though the past four-five months were turbulent.

Recently the company launched the all-new Rocket 3 GT in India priced at Rs 18.40 lakh (ex-showroom). By early next year, the company plans to bring a new middleweight roadster, the Trident.

"We are having the biggest line-up of BS-VI in the premium space. This is the 13th BS-VI motorcycle model we have launched in India," said Farooq adding that he is cautiously optimistic.

The company said it plans to launch a pre-owned vehicles programme in India next month. Today the brand has some 7,000 customers in India and Farooq said it would be good enough to start the programme.

Commenting on tie-up with Bajaj, he said, the non-equity long term partnership is to introduce mid-size motorcycles for India and the global markets. The first model will hit the roads in India in 2022 and it is likely to be priced at around Rs 2-2.5 lakh.

The models from the partnership will be available only under the Triumph brand and not Bajaj Auto. The company will launch a range of bikes under a new engine platform (200-750 cc engines) and it will be sold through Triumph dealerships, while they will be manufactured by Bajaj.