Sign of the times - Harley-Davidson SuperLow and Iron 883 to be produced in India.

[riffer]

NEW DELHI: US iconic bike maker Harley- Davidson on Tuesday said it will roll out two new motorcycles priced up to Rs 6.5 lakh (exshowroom ) from its proposed plant at in Bawal Haryana in 2011.

The new models, SuperLow and Iron 883 models will be the first two bikes to be rolled out of the CKD assembly facility in Bawal and will be introduced at Rs 5.5 lakh and Rs 6.5 lakh (ex-showroom ), respectively, the company said in a statement.

These models will be available across the five Harley-Davidson dealerships, in addition to the existing model line-up in 2011, it added. Bookings for the SuperLow and Iron 883 will commence on January 1, 2011, at Harley-Davidson dealerships around India, the company said.

Last month, the company had announced that it would start an assembly facility of its motorcycles in India by the first half of 2011, making it the second facility outside the US.

It had however, not specified the production capacity or the investment that will be made in the facility. Currently, Harley-Davidson India imports completely assembled motorcycles from its US final assembly plants. Besides India, outside the US, the company has CKD assembly operations in Brazil.

[BIG DOUG]

It makes sense,the price of a built up bike from usa would cost a lot more than having it built there and then maybe the people of india might be able to afford one and as far as I no they won't be exporting them.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Coor blimey!

[Banditbandit]

Seems appropriate - everything is made elsewhere, shipped to Milwauke and assembled there ...

Can now rest alongside such greats as Royal Enfield India, Hero Honda and now HD ...

[riffer]

Yet, strangely enough, there's no plans to make Indians there...

[Mully]

Is there Duty on imported bikes into India? Could be a reason for assembling CKD bikes there.

Maybe the quality will improve if they assemble in India......

That should wind up the Harley fans on here.

[Daffyd]

Yet, strangely enough, there's no plans to make Indians there...

Wrong sort of Indian.

[onearmedbandit]

Made in the good ol' United States of India. Oh well at least they might have better knowledge for when HD ships it's call centre there.

[riffer]

Made in the good ol' United States of India. Oh well at least they might have better knowledge for when HD ships it's call centre there.

Well you see there's the rub. Does made mean "manufactured" or "assembled"?

It's the same thing with watches. You have Swiss designed, Chinese manufactured and assembled, Swiss manufactured and Chinese assembled, and Swiss designed, manufactured and assembled.

They're all Swiss watches though. Good old globalisation.

[riffer]

A further note:

The BMW 3, 5 and 7 series are assembled in India.

The Audi A6 is assembled in India.

Hardly crap work is it?

[onearmedbandit]

A further note:

The BMW 3, 5 and 7 series are assembled in India.

The Audi A6 is assembled in India.

Hardly crap work is it?

That's been happening for a while now, from memory even Porsche have a factory in Mexico. But that's all fine. I was just taking the pee because one of Harley's marketing lines was 'Made in the US of A'.

[riffer]

That's been happening for a while now, from memory even Porsche have a factory in Mexico. But that's all fine. I was just taking the pee because one of Harley's marketing lines was 'Made in the US of A'.

Indeed. And my other post referring to Swiss watches was about the definition of made. Does it mean designed, manufactured, or assembled? or a combination or ALL THREE of the previous?

[Bob]

Had a look around. The bikes will be MANUFACTURED in the USA. The parts will be shipped to India, where they will be ASSEMBLED. It is cheaper to ship the parts than a fully assembled bike, apparantly.

The motorcycles assembled in India (as opposed to Indian Motorcycles, which is another kettle of fish altogether) are for domestic, i.e. Indian sales and are not for sale to the USA.

So in response to all the pee-taking about Harley's "Made in the USA" slogan... yes, they still are made there... just not necessarily cobbled together there as well.

Not sure if the other "premium brand" (BMW) is doing the same thing, but as they already have - as someone said - manufacturing plant there, why not?

The importance of the Indian economy cannot be underestimated - Honda are buying out of their 26 year association with Hero to open their own company there - not something you undertake lightly. Right now, the economy there is going throuigh a staggering boom period, with the newly affluent having a lot of cash to chuck around.

[pritch]

I understand Honda have plants in the USA, Italy, Spain, Brazil, India, and now Thailand where the new 250 will be produced. The Thais must know how to assemble bikes, they've been assembling Triumphs for a while now.

[Sable]

I wonder if the quality will improve