Like many other brands ahead of it, Triumph is getting ready to enter the Indian market in a serious way. Eyeing a piece of property in Narasapur in the Karnataka region of India, Triumph’s initial plan is to build a facility capable of producing 250,000 units per year, with an expansion plan that could double that number. Currently producing 50,000 units a year in its British and Thai facilities, Triumph’s move into India could increase the company’s production ten-fold per annum.
Said to be bringing mostly its full-size premium offerings to the Indian market, Triumph is also rumored to be working on a small-displacement single-cylinder motorcycle that could be developed with the Indian and Southeast Asian markets specifically in mind. With India’s premium motorcycle market still quite small, though growing, the initial quarter-million unit estimates from the British brand are sure to be heavily relying on this new small-displacement model, rumored to be called the Triumph Cub.
Narasapur is rapidly becoming the hub of India’s two-wheeled industry, as Honda has recently setup its third production plant in the area. Already home to TVS, which is said to be in talks regarding a partnership with BMW, Narasapur is ideally situated near India’s Bangalore-Chennai road and is near tothe Chennai port. Other OEM parts suppliers are also setting up shop in Narasapur, helping to perpetuate the industry’s shift to the area.
Expecting to bring its Indian factory online in 2015, Triumph still has a bit of time before it can begin local production in motorcycle’s saving grace of a market. The timeframe on the factory could thus also dictate when we would see the company’s small-displacement offering. Expected to be in the 250cc-350cc displacement range, the Triumph Cub (as some are calling it) will be a water-cooled single-cylinder bike that features a four-valve cylinder head.
Source: Business-Standard & Motorcycle Daily
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