Harley Davidson News

Piyush Arora, Managing Director & CEO of Skoda Auto Volkswagen India told ET. Arora’s statements come amid media reports of a potential equity partnership between the Volkswagen Group with Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M). Several auto companies such as Ford, General Motors, MAN Trucks and two-wheelers such as UM Motorcycles, Harley Davidson have exited India, amid low volumes which made it difficult to sustain operations viably in the country. Ford, which only recently announced plans to restart manufacturing operations at its plant in Chennai for global markets, had pulled the plug on India ops after a possible joint venture with Mahindra fell through. Harley Davidson, meanwhile rebooted India ops through a sales, manufacturing tie-up with Hero MotoCorp.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Ever since Donald Trump first became US President, India’s high import duty on Harley Davidson motorcycles has been a pet peeve of his against Indian policy.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India and the United States agreed to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial multi-sector bilateral trade agreement (BTA) by late September after president Donald Trump threatened to impose reciprocal tariffs on goods from India and several other countries. As he did in his first term, Trump continues to pressure India to lower its high and protectionist import duties on several goods, including luxury goods.

To tackle Trump's threat of a «reciprocal tax» on Indian goods for high tariffs, some officials of the Indian commerce ministry are ready to consider cuts on certain products such as pork, a senior government source said. Currently India slaps about a 45% import tariff on pork, which is mostly supplied by the U.S. Tariffs could also be reduced on high-end medical devices such as pace makers and luxury motor-cycles, including Harley Davidson, said a second official with direct knowledge of trade issues, citing the 25% to 60% tariffs on these products.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Hero MotoCorp Ltd’s shares are down 26% from its 52-week high of ₹6,246.25 per share on 24 September. It appears that the stock, too, has been suffering due to the general downturn in the stock market as there is no other apparent reason.

More than two decades ago, a national LGBTQ+ rights group decided to promote change by grading corporations on their workplace policies

Soon, it emerged that the driver of the minivan was not a longtime resident but one of the thousands of immigrants from Haiti who had recently settled in the area. He was driving with a foreign license not valid in Ohio. The stage was set for another fraught chapter in the debate over immigration in America, this one magnified because JD Vance, the state's junior senator, would soon become the Republican vice presidential nominee.

Hero MotoCorp and Harley-Davidson Inc are set to expand their partnership to bring more models of the iconic US motorcycle maker to India, riding on the overwhelming response to the X-440, multiple people aware of the negotiations told ET. The two companies are close to finalising an agreement to broaden their existing partnership, which is limited to a single model, the sources said. The pact could also include manufacturing of Harley-Davidson models for export to other markets, they said. An announcement is likely within weeks, they added. Hero MotoCorp and Harley-Davidson did not respond to ET's queries until press time on Sunday.

Bajaj Auto is aiming to achieve its target of producing 10,000 units of its Triumph motorcycles each month by September, a company executive said on Thursday. «I would pin that in the first half (of fiscal 2025),» Dinesh Thapar, Bajaj Auto's financial chief, said in a post-earnings call when asked about the goal's trajectory. «Consider between now and September,» he said.

Eicher Motors Ltd’s Royal Enfield is likely to see a drop in its market share in the coming months. True, the company is launching new vehicles, but so are its peers.

India should look at how it can sell electric two-wheelers to the world, even as it develops a market for battery electric vehicles locally, Niranjan Gupta, chief executive officer of Hero MotoCorp, the country’s largest two-wheeler maker, said on Tuesday. The company will introduce three electric two-wheelers in the mass market in FY25 to strengthen its portfolio, Gupta said on the sidelines of an event to unveil 'Hero Mavrick', the first Hero-badged premium motorcycle that has been developed with American motorcycle maker Harley Davidson. Gupta said one of the upcoming electric scooters will target customers in the B2B segment, while the other two will be positioned in the mid and entry segments for buyers in the mass market. “Over the next 12 months, we will launch a mid-price scooter and an economically priced scooter. So the Vida range will be aspirational, accessible and affordable,” he said. Sales of electric two-wheelers in India increased by 36% to 859,000 units in CY2023.

JAIPUR : With an aim to accelerate its electrification journey, Hero MotoCorp plans to bring three new electric two-wheelers in the next one year, company CEO Niranjan Gupta said on Tuesday. The company, which unveiled its new performance bike MAVERICK 440, is also ramping up production to 10,000 units a month to meet demand for motorcycles in the segment. "In FY25, we will launch electric scooters in the mid-price segment and in the economy segment to extend our Vida range," Gupta said in an interaction on the sidelines of the Hero World 2024 event here.

Hero MotoCorp, known for its budget-friendly commuter and mid-range motorcycles, is making a significant shift towards the premium, sporty motorcycle segments. The company has recently teased its upcoming release, a 440cc motorcycle, scheduled for launch on January 22.

Hero MotoCorp, the country's largest two-wheeler maker known for its entry-level bikes, is looking to create a portfolio of premium motorcycles and scooters with the launch of multiple products in the next two years. Chief executive officer Niranjan Gupta told ET that growing footprint in the premium two-wheeler segment is a priority for the company. Hero MotoCorp's Splendor and Passion dominate the country's entry-level motorcycles segment. A larger chunk of the about '1,000 crore the company has earmarked for spending annually will be used for designing premium and electric vehicles to strengthen the company's presence in these two categories, Gupta said. The CEO, who was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the 210cc Hero Karizma motorcycle, said the company will continue to build its presence in the premium segment with multiple launches over the next four to eight quarters.

Hero MotoCorp, which has a strong presence in the commuter or entry-level motorcycle segment, is swiftly expanding its presence in the premium segment of motorcycles up to 440cc, said chief executive Niranjan Gupta. On Tuesday, Hero reintroduced its Karizma series with the Karizma XMR 210, priced at ₹1.70 lakh ex-showroom. It comes on the heels of the Harley Davidson X440, developed indigenously as part of its joint venture with Harley Davidson.

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Hero MotoCorp share price rallied over 4% on Tuesday after the company announced it received more than 25,000 bookings for the recently launched Harley Davidson X440. Hero MotoCorp shares gained as much as 4.58% to ₹3,088.00 apiece on the BSE. In a regulatory filing on Monday, Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, said that it received 25,597 bookings for the Harley-Davidson X440, since opening the bookings on the July 4, 2023.

Eicher Motors Ltd’s motorcycle brand, Royal Enfield, finds itself in the middle of formidable challenges from the alliances formed by Hero MotoCorp and Harley Davidson, and Bajaj Auto and Triumph Motorcycle, in the highly competitive middleweight segment. However, the brand is confident of “enduring" the onslaught when the “fanfare" around the launch of the new products dies down, considering that it has “built a fortress" which will “not be easy for robbers (rivals) to penetrate".

₹1,500 crore, as was reported in the news article by the Economic Times (ET). Mint could not independently confirm the news.

Hero MotoCorp Ltd in partnership with Harley Davidson has launched the Harley-Davidson X440, and Bajaj Auto Ltd in collaboration with Triumph Motorcycles launched Speed 400. Both these motorbikes are in the above-250 cc segment and have been priced competitively, opening the doors for better customer acceptance. “We think this will lead to faster premiumization of the two-wheeler industry," said Kumar Rakesh, an analyst at BNP Paribas Securities India, in a report on 6 July.

Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp are trading at their respective 52-week high levels after a rally fuelled by the recent launches in the premium motorcycle segment. Bajaj Auto, on July 5, unveiled Speed 400 and Scrambler 400X, co-developed with Triumph Motorcycles. While earlier this week, Hero MotoCorp also made in-roads into the segment with the launch of Harley Davidson X440, a fully indigenized 440cc motorcycle it has co-created with the Milwaukee-headquartered cult motorbike maker,  Bajaj-Triumph Speed 400 comes with a starting price of ₹2.33 lakh (ex-showroom), while Hero-Harley Davidson’s X440 was launched at nearly similar starting price of ₹2.29 lakh (ex-showroom).