New Delhi: American company Harley Davidson has announced the closure of manufacturing and sales operations in India on Thursday. The company has taken this decision as part of the restructuring process, named ‘The Rewire’. In August itself, this cruiser bike manufacturer had indicated this in view of losses in the international market. This company will now focus exclusively on the American market.
Employees at risk
The company has had to take this decision due to poor sales records and huge demand reduction due to the Coronavirus epidemic. A total of 2,500 Harley-Davidson units were sold in India during the last financial year. Along with this, it was the worst performance of the company in the international market. After this decision of the company, about 70 employees working in India will also be laid off. The assembly unit of Harley-Davidson is in Bawan of Haryana.
Sales in India were continuously falling
Harley bikes sales fell 22 per cent in the Indian market in FY 2019. The company sold only 2,676 units this year. In the first financial year, 3,413 units were sold. 65 percent of the bikes sold in India are less than 750CC capacity.
These automobile companies left the Indian market
With this, Harley-Davidson has joined the automotive brands who have decided to leave the Indian market in the last 3-4 years. This list includes General Motors, Fiat, Ssangyong, Scania, MAN and UM Motorcycles.
Harley was ready to compete, Royal Enfield,
A few years ago, Harley tied up with a Chinese company Qianjiang to make 350cc engine bikes. This year this bike was about to be launched, but in the last few months, no information is available about it. The company took this decision to compete with Royal Enfield.
The brands that Harley-Davidson competes with are Triumph, Indian, Benelli, Kawasaki, Ducati, Aprilia and premium range Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Honda bikes. Most of these brands do not share any data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacture (SIAM).
