Enter the ball of confusion from Harley Davidson and Hero MotoCorp of India who will temporarily suspend orders of the brand new X440 on the 3rd August…apparently due to an “overwhelming response”
Just recently H-D CEO Jochen Zeitz was buoyant after the launch of the X440 single cylinder engine motorcycle for the Indian market and declaring that they have been taken aback by the great response and pre orders.
However, other reports in India would suggest that the wave of enthusiasm is with the Triumph 400cc motorcycles and still remains with their main competitive target that is Royal Enfield.
Hero MotoCorp who partnered with Harley Davidson for the X440 project have also been tight lipped about the reasoning for the pause and have not indicated when it is to return. Is this merely a marketing strategy to over inflate demand that really has fallen short? Surely in terms of pre orders, both companies should be perfectly able to accommodate the ordering of bikes and meet those supply demands? Or perhaps the orders were never that high in the first instance?
The speculation could spiral upwards as neither company have released any pre order numbers…and reports also suggest that the prices are likely to increase further, which will not be received well in a market that is used to compact and competitively priced bikes.
All eyes and ears are now set for the test rides for pre order customers which begin 1st September and first deliveries arrive in October.