Triumph motorcycles have been gaining market share for a number of years with an impressive range of motorcycle models across many styles too. However like many popular brands selling quality products, the one criticism has been that it lacked motorcycles for the entry level market, the young rider or the newly turned on!
Well, Triumph have been addressing this and so teamed up with Indian motorcycle manufacturer: Bajaj to produce single cylinder motorcycles that could be sold in multiple markets…and they are being launched in London on 27th June 2023.
Like other notable brands such as KTM, BMW and Harley Davidson who have teamed up with Indian motorcycle manufacturers to produce smaller displacement engined bikes most likely for the Indian markets but would do very well in many others too and especially in Europe.
Triumph and Bajaj are planning to produce single cylinder retro styled street bikes and Triumph are already in testing for a range of motocross bikes which they will enter into competition in 2024, firstly the 250cc class and later the 450cc class.
The Triumph-Bajaj test bikes have been seen riding in India for some time now. Usually photos of limited quality and stealthy colours to mask the true potential.
Two motorcycles have been seen so far. The roadster and the scrambler, both featuring a 400-500cc single cylinder engine with dual overhead cams and signature styled engine casings.
Recently Bajaj’s managing director, Rajiv Bajaj, confirmed the launch whilst giving an interview with Indian TV station CNBC-TV18. “The actual launch will be toward the end of June. Perhaps specifically on Tuesday, 27th June, in London. It will be a global launch that is being organised by Triumph. The exact content of that, I am not aware, but that’s when the launch might be.”
He continued in saying: “We should have product on the market in the second quarter of this financial year.” and further mentioned the recently seen street photos, “Clearly there’s more than one product in development. I can also say that more than one product will be launched in the second quarter if all goes well.”
Triumph and Bajaj are also dramatically expanding their dealership network around India too, so it would appear that they are planning an assault on the Indian market in the 400cc range, to rival KTM and BMW but also to fend off the future Harley Davidson-Hero Moto Corp bikes to come out later in 2023 and early 2024.
The question is whether these single cylinder bikes can be successful in the European market? Well Royal Enfield have been having great success with their range of bikes and have more in the pipeline too.
Since Triumph arose from the ashes when John Bloor took the reigns in the 90’s, there has been an increasing appetite to have smaller engine bikes in the stable…and it now seems the wait is over.
If they can price match at least the Royal Enfield bikes then it could be even greater success for the Hinkley based firm. with the collaboration with Bajaj, this reinforces the global reach of the brand and being able to produce bikes at a much lower cost point too, the likes of which only India and China can achieve.