Rajiv Bajaj, MD of Bajaj Auto, says Triumph Motorcycles can potentially sell half a million to a million units globally in the times to come and his company would “want to be part of the journey”. Speaking to the media post the launch of the Speed 400 in Pune, executed after five years of exhaustive work, Rajiv Bajaj said, “The collaboration has provided us with an incredible opportunity to be a part of this life cycle.”
With its current range of bikes, Triumph sold about 90,000 units in the calendar year 2022, and the Speed 400 and Scrambler 400 X could potentially add about 40,000 to 50,000 units, in less than a year. On its part, Bajaj Auto has set up a new factory – called Chakan 2 – which is already geared up to produce over half a million units of premium bikes, and if the demand is higher, it can be scaled up further.
The current plant capacity is producing 25,000 units a month – shared between KTM and Triumph, Bajaj, however, assured, this capacity can be easily scaled up to 40,000 units a month and from there on, it can even be doubled.
He said that when Bajaj Auto and KTM started their collaboration in 2007, the Austrian bike maker used to sell about 65,000 units per annum. In this journey of over one and a half decade, KTM has transformed into one amongst the largest premium motorcycle brands in the world.
As for Triumph, he asserted, "Triumph is not only a strong brand, but it also has a broader appeal. So I'm delighted to be a part of this journey," underscoring a much larger volume potential for the British brand's entry into midsize bikes. These are the highest specs and quality levels that Bajaj has ever engineered and developed, claimed Rajiv Bajaj.
As per the MD, the company has no plans of utilising the Triumph motorcycle platform or engine to come out with its own derivative, unlike Hero MotoCorp, which will be coming out with its own version based on the Harley-Davidson X440.
Given the fact that Bajaj and Triumph are entering a segment dominated by Royal Enfield, the management was posed with several questions on how the Bajaj-Triumph duo will counter the stronghold of the Bullet maker in the segment. "We didn't start off with the objective of targeting a particular competition [i.e, Royal Enfield]. Siddhartha [Lal, MD of Royal Enfield] is like my younger brother. What he has done at Royal Enfield is tremendous, they have had tremendous success, but you can't have a small objective [just targeting Royal Enfield]," said Rajiv Bajaj.
"We have built the partnership for the global motorcycle market, quite frankly Royal Enfield is not big outside of India. So when we are looking at all the markets, Royal Enfield is one of the considerations," he added. "For the first time perhaps, the Indian consumer will have a choice of two brands, Harley and Triumph, which are really best placed to compete in that mindspace.”
Rajiv Bajaj believes the midsize motorcycle segment is among the most profitable segments to participate in. Drawing a parallel to the famous American bank robber Willie Sutton's remark, he stated, "When Sutton was asked, why does he keep robbing banks, his reply was: that is where the money is. So, if money is in the Royal Enfield [segment], there is no other choice but to rob from them [midsize bike segment].”
The MD of India's largest two-wheeler exporter also reminded how his company has learned from the philosophy of rival company Honda Two-wheelers’ founder, Soichiro Honda, "One of the interesting things Soichiro Honda said was that it is the customer who shapes the market and it is our job to respond to them better than others. If consumers see value in these [midsize] motorcycles, we are going to make the most of the opportunities.”
With inputs from Amit Vijay.
Azaman Chothia
Vishal Venugopal
