 "Harley-Davidson")
Vikram Pawah, former operating head (sales) at Honda Cars India, is slated to join the Indian operations of American cult motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson. He might join Harley in a sales and marketing role later this month. Pawah had quit Honda last month after spending 15 years in various capacities in India and Australia.
In response to an e-mailed query on Pawah, Harley- Davidson said, “We will make the announcement at an appropriate time”.
When contacted, Pawah declined to comment on it but said he would be joining a new organisation sometime this month. Harley-Davidson’s volume has come under pressure this year after an impressive growth last year.
The leisure riding culture which Harley is promoting in India is also benefiting companies such as Eicher Motors, thanks to the latter's relatively affordable price. Royal Enfield, Eicher’s motorcycle business, sold 49 per cent more units (185,797) during the April-August period of this financial year.
“We have invested heavily in building the leisure riding culture in India and paved the way for other heavyweight motorcycle manufacturers to enter the country. Our focus is to cater to customers across segments and also invest in their ownership experience through our event and rallies,” Harley-Davidson said. The company has 18 independent dealer networks in India and it plans to add three more locations —Calicut, Nagpur and Coimbatore — in 2015.
According to the data available with the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, Harley Davidson sold 4,641 bikes in the year ended March 31, 2015, up 141 per cent from the previous year. In the April-August period of the current year, volumes declined by eight per cent to 1,684 units. Last month, Harley Davidson initiated the recall of 3,698 units of its XG750 model manufactured this year to rectify a faulty fuel pump inlet.
The Indian auto sector continues to see a high rate of churn at the top due to various push and pull factors. In March, Satinder Singh Bajwa had quit Hyundai Motor India as senior general manager and group head (sales), to join Nissan as vice-president for sales, network and customer relations. In May, Hyundai saw the exit of Sanjay Gupta, senior general manager (marketing), who joined realty firm M3M as chief marketing officer. There have been a few exits at Tata Motors. Naresh Rattan, former head of sales at Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, quit Force Motors as executive director earlier this year to join Punjab-based tractor and utility vehicle maker Sonalika Group as director, sales and marketing.
