Bryan's Blog

Harley-Davidson opened its first dealership in India last Friday in the southern city of Hyderabad. The Motor Company has plans to open stores in other Indian cities in the near future, including the capital, New Delhi, and the financial hub, Mumbai.

India is the world’s second-largest motorcycle market (behind China), but most sales are small, inexpensive motorcycles or step-thru scooters that can maneuver through India’s congested city roadways. There are open roads outside of the big cities, but these are often riddled with potholes and are for the most part poorly maintained. Fortunately, the country has been investing in building new highways.

Harley-Davidson looks to tap into one of the fastest growing economies around and hopes to attract business from the emerging Indian middle class which suddenly has disposable income. One of the ironies of its expansion though is its attempt to sell “freedom of the open road” to a country whose streets are notorious for their congestion. Since there’s a dearth of open roads, the new rally cry for H-D’s Indian market will instead be “Hear the Roar!”

The Hyderabad H-D will feature 12 Harley-Davidson motorcycles, at least one from each of its five model families. The Harleys will be completely assembled before shipping and will range in price from 695,000 to 3,495,000 Indian rupees. This translates to around $15,200 to $76,000 US, roughly double the domestic price because of high import tariffs. In its 2010 First Quarter results, sales of Harleys here in the States was down 24.3% in comparison to the year before, but international sales only dipped by 2.8%, lending validity to the company's need to invest into foreign markets.