Other manufacturers should take note, breathe in and out slowly and be a little concerned at what Triumph and Bajaj of India have managed to create since their partnership a couple of years ago.
Yesterday they launched two 400cc motorcycles; Speed 400 & Scrambler 400 X which will be initially sold in India from early July. This is a major market to conquer and Bajaj are opening dealerships in 120 cities across India to launch these bikes and aiming for stratospheric sales numbers too.
What we now know is that these bikes will also be sold in other markets from 2024 too. That means they will likely go to Europe where there is a big market for smaller engine bikes, and judging by the looks of these, they are going to be hot tickets indeed.
The query was always whether these bikes, and bikes from other manufacturer collabs, would only be sold in India…or China as the case may be, but in reality these are exactly what other markets around the world are screaming out for.
Cool retro bikes with some modern tech and some punch without breaking the bank too. It is no surprise that Royal Enfield have performed very well on a global level. They have cool retro bikes with evolving tech. Of course they aren’t the most powerful of bikes, but they don’t need to be. That is the attraction of these. You can get on and ride effortlessly, comfortably and cheaply too but still retain a lot of street cred.
So Triumph/Bajaj have now done exactly the same thing and the bikes look great but with fuel injection, single cylinder liquid cooled engines, four valve head with DOHC…these are ready for the modern road and rider.
So these bikes should do very well in all markets and certainly would attract older and younger riders whether these are primary or secondary bikes too. So what about the competition?
Well Harley Davidson with Hero Motocorp are just about to launch the single bike in the coming months; X440, but it appears that it will have less features than the Triumph so it could falter at the start.
It also would do well in other markets as it would be suited to the roads and riding tastes, but it depends whether the corporations would want to bring it to other markets or retain it only for India. Perhaps they are putting it against Royal Enfield and Triumph/Bajaj as a test to see how it sells. However if it cannot match of performance, tech and price, then it is likely to be found out quite quickly.
But for now it party time for Triumph and Bajaj and it will be interesting to see how well this is received in India initially and then later in other markets next year. They certainly have leapt ahead with the others already playing catchup.
