Harley Davidson may cost just 3.3 lakh or lesser

Remember when Barrack Obama made his Indian visit recently, apart from talking about Mahatma Gandhi and dancing to Indian numbers he also had come with the Harley Davidson plan. The plan was to setup Harley Davidson’s new assembly plant here in India. Now the latest development is that the new plant will be a ‘Mother Plant’ manufacturing components, and not just assembling them. This looks like a tasty treat for the Harley loyalists, also it would be a good deal for both the countries. The plant is proposed to be built at Bawal located in Haryana.

Previously Harley Davidson would merely assemble their bikes here in India. Knowing that the current duties on the CBU are 110% and CKD are 60% it’s rather a wise decision to start a base and cater to the Asian market. Currently Harley Davidson has only one assembly plant outside US which is at Manaus at Brazil. What makes us happy is that 60% of the parts will be localized which means that the cheapest Harley which is the Superlow which currently costs Rs. 5.5 Lakh may cost as low as a staggering Rs. 3.3 lakh or maybe lesser with the cost going down by 40% -45 %.

With the sale of around 200-250 Harleys if this plant happens we are sure that those numbers will rise in no time. A vendor mentioned this to the Financial Express team that “The company has asked its global vendors in the US and Thailand to set up manufacturing units in Bawal. It has also given expressions of interest to Indian component makers for supply of vehicle parts to its Haryana unit, which would commence its operations in mid-2011”.

Harley Davidson has not made any official disclosure about the capacity of the plant or the investments that the company has made. The Indian spokesperson being neutral just said that the development of our India CKD assembly operations is proceeding on schedule as we look to build our brand presence around the world.

Source : FE

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