Hero rolls out 440cc Harley at ₹2.29 lakh

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : Hero MotoCorp on Monday stepped into India’s ballooning market for premium lifestyle motorcycles with the launch of Harley Davidson X440, a fully indigenized 440cc motorcycle it has co-created with the Milwaukee-based cult motorbike maker. The motorcycle comes at an aggressive starting price of ₹2.29 lakh ex-showroom, pricing that makes it a disruptive proposition given that it brings the cult brand within reach of the aspirational premium buyer.

The motorcycle will be made at Hero MotoCorp’s Neemrana facility, with locally made motors, engines and chassis, with deliveries beginning during the festive season this year. It will also launch a bike on the same platform under the Hero MotoCorp badge in the fourth quarter of the ongoing fiscal, making it the first time it will participate in the 350cc-500cc segment of motorcycles in the ₹3 lakh and above price range, Pawan Munjal, chairman, Hero MotoCorp, said, confirming a Mint report last month about a planned 400cc product with its own badge based on the Harley platform.

“There are hundreds of thousands of customers out there who would want to buy a Harley Davidson, but Harley Davidson so far has been out of their reach, out of their pockets now. It is going to be affordable for them.

So, we do expect fairly large numbers to come in for this particular product", Munjal said in an interview. The Harley Davidson X440 will be sold at select Hero MotoCorp dealerships along with existing Harley sales touchpoints, Niranjan Gupta, CEO, Hero MotoCorp said, adding the company will open distribution widely to cater to demand beyond the top 20-30 cities, that the accessibly-priced Harley will generate.