Harley-Davidson on Tuesday announced that it would start assembling its iconic bikes from next year.
“We are building a strong foundation for our business in India, first by establishing a world-class dealer network, and now by commencing CKD (complete knock-down) assembly operations,” said Harley-Davidson India Managing Director Anoop Prakash.
“The plant is likely to be operational by the first half of next year at Bawal in Haryana and investments in it will be a part of tens of millions of dollars that we are making in India…CKD is important for us in order to make the bikes more accessible. For example, the duty tariff for import of completely built units is 60 per cent, while that on the parts is 10 per cent,” Mr. Prakash said.
The company now sells 12 bikes priced between Rs.7.79 lakh and Rs.38.66 lakh. As of now, Harley-Davidson has been importing completely assembled motorcycles from its U.S. assembly plants. Once the CKD assembly facility is operational, it will import CKD kits for select models, consisting of components produced by Harley-Davidson's U.S. plants in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Missouri.
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.
The company, which started selling its products since July, is expecting sell 200-250 units by the end of 2010. Harley-Davidson has now four dealerships with the fifth one coming up next month in Bangalore.
