March 4, 2013: India has been a hot market for many motorcycle brands since last couple of years and companies like BMW, Aprilia, Ducati and Harley Davidson are already into India or have plans to launch new models by the year end. Latest brand which is looking to launch motorcycles in India is Victory Motorcycles. Victory Motorcycles which owns Polaris will be officially launching the luxury cruiser motorcycles by the end of 2013
The company will be initially launching two models i.e. Victory Vision and Victory Cross Country tour at a price of Rs.11.40 lakh and Rs.12.21 lakh respectively in India. The luxury cruise bikes will be imported directly from USA as CBUs. The super bikes will be featuring the large American Vee Twin Engines.
Victory will be facing stiff competition in India from Harley Davidson, the American brand which has already registered a presence in India. Harley Davison has already announced its plans to set up a CKD assembly plant in Haryana. Victory Motorcycles before the launch of the cruiser bikes in India would be doing a final test market of its products.
Victory which has dealerships in many international locations like Canada, Sweden, Germany etc. will be facing a severe challenge in the Indian market because of competition and high import duties. The government recently has increased the import duty on imported automobiles in the Union Budget 2013 and with this the imported vehicles would be costing more. It would be interesting to note what would be the strategy of Victory Motorcycles and whether they will go for import or set up a assembly plant like Harley Davidson to bring down the cost.
