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American motorcycle manufacturer Harley Davidson has emerged as India's no. 1 premium motorcycle brand as it dominated sales in the 1000cc segment in FY22.
Harley Davidson was operating in India earlier since 2009 independently. The company had a first-mover advantage in the premium bike segment and had a great following in the country as its brand had aspirational value in India. The company made an impressive debut in the country but faced tough competition later on from other competitors like Triumph, Honda, and Kawasaki.
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The company's sales declined as it took the company 10 years to achieve 25,000 unit sales. Moreover, as covid-19 hit the world, the company could not manage to keep its Indian operations afloat and eventually shut down its operations in September 2020. However, the company entered into a Joint Venture with Hero Motocorp in October 2020 according to which Hero Motocorp was the sole distributor of the premium brand.
According to data shared by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), 601 units of the premium brand were sold during the year, against 206 units sold last year, marking a 191.75% growth in sales. With this, Harley Davidson took the top spot, defeating large players like Triumph, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Honda. Today, Harley Davidson has a 39.44% market share in the Indian premium motorbikes segment, improving significantly from 27% last year.
The JV can be accredited for such high sales volume as Hero Motocorp took charge of all operations of the company in India. Hero used its own large distribution network and expanded Harley Davidson's Indian network to 13 showrooms and 10 service centers.
Following the news, shares of Hero Motocorp surged 1.9% to close at Rs 2,495.90 per share. The stock opened well today as it witnessed a full gap-up opening and surged an additional 1% today. The price closed today at Rs 2,523 per share.
Article by Aman Agarwal.
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