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Indian Motorcycle eyes up to 30% market share in premium motorcycle segment

Indian Motorcycle eyes up to 30% market share in premium motorcycle segment
Indian Motorcycle is seeking to replicate the growth in India which it witnessed in other global markets and expects to garner 25-30% market share.

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Indian Motorcycle eyes up to 30% market share in premium motorcycle segment

Indian Motorcycle is seeking to replicate the growth in India which it witnessed in other global markets and expects to garner 25-30% market share in the premium motorcycle segment. The company, a wholly-owned division of Polaris Industries Inc. that sells a range of imported bikes priced between Rs 15.68 lakh and Rs 43.96 lakh.




It was unable to operate fully in the Indian market due to non-availability of BS-VI compliant models besides the disruption due to COVID-19 pandemic. Lalit Sharma, Country Manager, Polaris India Pvt Ltd, told PTI that globally the company is registering growth everywhere, and getting market share. “There is double-digit growth in North America, in Asia-Pacific, in Europe and in Japan. It gives a clear indication that the brand is growing everywhere,” he said.

In regards to the Indian market, Sharma said 2020 was very tough for everyone and unfortunately or fortunately it was more of a cooling period for the company because it was not having any Euro V (BS-VI) motorcycles at that time. Indian Motorcycle received the new set of motorcycles early this year. He acknowledged that this year is pretty strong with the company. “We have a new set of motorcycles. The new Chief series and more affordable bikes are coming up. Customer inquiries and orders have gone tremendously up. New customers are coming in and dealers are pretty positive.”

Before 2020, Indian Motorcycle has around 25-30% market share in the country’s premium bike segment that is, at present close to around 1,000 units a year. Sharma believes the company will focus on the arrival of the new bikes as its kind of solid growth which the company is targeting for this year. “And definitely, we will see the overall industry by the end of this year and we are and what needs to be done in the next year,” he said. “If we talk about premium motorcycling, it’s all about brotherhood and it’s more of a social gathering through group riding. Technically speaking, it has been impacted by the pandemic globally, not just in India.”


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Sharma pointed out that due to the pandemic, the rides that the company used to organize in different parts of India were completely halted. However, with the situation improving, the company is keeping a close eye with the local regulations and has started allowing dealers to organize regional rides in small sets of customers by following all COVID-19 protocols. “Now the rides are picking up slowly. The customers are coming forward and they are showing keen interest in the new set of motorcycles and things are shaping up very well.”

Inquiries have gone up tremendously, but Sharma shared that doing demonstrations to customers continues to be a big challenge as many of the customers are still not willing to visit the showrooms and are not very eager to take a test ride.


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  1. Pingback: India is in discussions on different FTAs with various countries.

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