Vimal Sumbly has resigned from his position as Managing Director at Triumph India. In the five years with Triumph, he helped the company become one of the most successful large-capacity two-wheeler brands in India. While it isn’t confirmed yet, we could see him join another major bike maker. Shoeb Farooq, Head Sales and Dealer Development, has been promoted to take on this role with immediate effect.
In 2014, Triumph recorded its highest-ever sales figures in 30 years, reaching a volume of 54,432 units. The Indian market, with sales of 1,300 motorcycles in the first year after launch, was a key contributor to this number. At the time, Sumbly was quoted as saying, “We have not only established ourselves as a front-runner in the luxury motorcycles industry but have also been successful in adding value to our global sales figures.” The company announced that it has sold over 900 Tigers and 700 Street Triples in India to date.
Last year, the company and Sumbly reached yet another milestone with 14 dealerships across the country and 16 models on sale. The customer base also grew to 4,500 last year. 2017 was also the year when Triumph announced an alliance with Bajaj to co-develop motorcycles in the 250-750cc category. Sumbly, however, leaves at a point where Triumph is in a difficult position due to the latest hike (from 10-15 percent) in duties levied on motorcycles brought in as completely knocked down (CKD) kits. This move affected the bike maker significantly as most of its offerings came in via that route.
Speaking about this move, he had said to us, “It came as a little bit of a deterrent. If you look in India today, most of the luxury manufacturers, whether its bikes or cars, have a plant in Thailand and today FTA is cheaper than doing CKD. The government needs to do some serious thinking. Five percent is a big amount of money in the automobile industry – to lose or to gain." Watch this space for updates on where Sumbly may head next.