Harley Davidson Motorcycles has announced that it will start CKD assembly operations of its products in India.

To date, Harley-Davidson India has been importing completely assembled motorcycles from the company’s US plant. Once the CKD assembly facility in Haryana gets operational, Harley-Davidson India will import CKD kits for select models, consisting of components produced by Harley-Davidson’s US plants in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Missouri and by the company’s suppliers. Employees at the Haryana facility will then assemble the components into finished motorcycles. Other models will continue to be imported as completely built motorcycles for now.

India will be the second country in which Harley-Davidson has CKD assembly operations outside the US, after Brazil where the company began assembly operations in 1999.

Harley-Davidson India commenced operations in August 2009 and opened its first dealership in July 2010.  The Company currently offers 12 models in its 2010 line-up in India, available through authorized dealerships in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Hyderabad.

The Company expects the CKD (complete knock-down) assembly facility to be operational in the first half of 2011.