Despite not many success stories of top-end luxury bikes in India, Italy-based Ducati Motor Holding has tied up with Precision Motor India Pvt Ltd to foray into the Indian market with its entire range of 15 super bikes.
With engine capacities in the range of 850cc to 1,200cc, these bikes would be priced between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 50 lakh and will be sold through typical Ducati showrooms. The company is planning to invest $3-4 million in the country in next three years to set up showrooms, first two of which will shortly come up in Mumbai and Delhi, followed by Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai next year.
?Indian economy is booming and there are huge numbers of rich customers who are aspiring to buy luxury bikes,? says Gabriele Del Torchio, CEO, Ducati Motor Holding, adding that the company expects to register a year-on-year growth of 10%.
Ducati Motor, on Wednesday, launched five bikes and plans to bring in another 10 by the end of this year to help company achieve the target of selling 50 units in 2008. This will also include its 696cc Monster that is currently under the process of getting homologated.
The target is indeed big keeping in mind the fact that it would compete with the likes of Yamaha’s recently launched YZF-R1 and MT01 in terms of engine capacity but would be fairly expensive as the latter costs Rs 10.5 lakh. Even KTM is entering into the India market in association with Bajaj Auto to sell its top-end bikes like 690 Duke and the RC8 super bike in the country. Other two-wheeler giants like Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd and Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India Put Ltd are also mulling to foray into the segment by selling the top-end bikes as completely-built units in India. All this despite the fact that the industry biggies like BMW had withdrawn from the market over a decade back and till date the company has no concrete plans to re enter the Indian market.
?High disposable incomes and greater exposure of Indians to international brands have opened up huge opportunity for leading luxury two-wheeler manufacturers to try their luck in India. But the fact that even domestic players are eyeing a part of this niche segment is largely because they want to expand their presence across all segments and hence enhance their brand image,? says an analyst.
