Harley-Davidson has made a major announcement, confirming that it is working on a brand new small capacity motorcycle for Asia and especially for India. The big news here is that Harley-Davidson will be entering into a strategic partnership with an Asia-based two-wheeler company for manufacturing the 250 cc- 500 cc motorcycles, without mentioning who the new partner will be. TVS Motor Company has partnered with BMW, Bajaj Auto has announced a partnership with Triumph Motorcycles! So could we also see Harley-Davidson partnering with an Indian two-wheeler manufacturer in the future? We do sense a high possibility of that happening.
Also Read: Harley-Davidson Announces 3 New Motorcycles; One Is An Adventure Bikes
The company has categorically mentioned that this new product will be brought to India with intent of further broadening the customer access to Harley-Davidson motorcycles and also fuel the company's growth in India. The company has already been very successful with the Street 750 and India is an important market for Harley-Davidson. With sales slowing down, particularly in the US market, Harley-Davidson's new small capacity motorcycle will be launched keeping in mind the high volumes Asian markets, including the world's largest two-wheeler market that is India. Bajaj Auto and Triumph Motorcycles have already announced collaboration for developing and manufacturing smaller displacement motorcycles, and three motorcycle models from the TVS-BMW partnership have already been introduced, both in India and abroad.
Harley-Davidson hasn't yet confirmed what kind of motorcycle, the new small displacement model will be. After Harley's announcement, we are hoping that it will be something other than a cruiser. A sub 500 cc naked streetfighter or maybe and adventure bike from Harley looks like a delicious thought right now! Sure, these are early days and it still is open to speculation about what this new model will be, or who the new 'strategic partner' will be, but we won't be surprised if Harley-Davidson pulls a rabbit out of the hat.
