Harley-Davidson Softail Range Gets a Price Slash

Legendary motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson's Indian arm, Harley-Davidson India, has slashed the prices of its Softail range of bikes by around Rs. 5.5 lakh. After the price cut Fat Boy, Fat Boy Special and Heritage Classic motorcycles are now more affordable and are available at a price of tags of Rs. 14.90 lakhs, Rs. 15.60 lakhs, and Rs. 16.25 lakhs, respectively. These bikes were imported as CBU (completely built unit) earlier. But, recently Harley-Davidson started the assembling of these bikes from CKD (completely knocked down) kit at its Noida plant, which ulitmately has led to the dropped prices.

Harley-Davidson is currently selling 13 bikes in India, out of which 6 models are being assembled at the local plant and with these 3 bikes, total of 9 bikes will be assembled locally. There are reports that Harley-Davidson is planning to set up a new plant in India soon, expected by December 2013. Anoop Prakash, managing director of Harley-Davidson India, said "We have a dealer in Kolkata right now that serves our customers in the northeast. As critical mass builds, we may open another dealership. We find demand for premium products in India is scaling up... also, Harley-Davidson is a lifestyle - it doesn't make sense to compare us to other automotive companies," he added.

More than being just a bike brand, Harley-Davidson produces a cult of bikes, running a whole culture of biking. With the growing demand of Harley bikes in India, along with the growing buying capacity of Indian consumers, the American bike-maker has started taking the Indian bike market seriously. The company recently had organized the first Indian HOG (Harley-Davidson Owners Group) rally.

And now there soon could be a Harley Cafe in Pune. The good momentum that HD India is getting from the Indian market encourages for fresh HD plans, an example being lower price of Softail, another one being a CKD unit. The company is expanding its dealership network and wishes to reach tier-3 cities soon. Speculated are dealerships in all North East Indian states, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland, which might lead to further lowering of prices. By the way, as of now, one of the most happening news is that the price of Harley Davidson Softail range which undertakes Fat Boy, Fat Boy Special, Hertaige Classic, has come down of three of their most desirable bikes.