Bajaj Auto's managing director Rajiv Bajaj on Monday said with its alliance with British motorcycle major Triumph the company wanted to be a ‘complete’ automaker.
It is as part of this quest that Bajaj Auto had entered into a non-equity alliance with British motorcycle major Triumph last week after its successful 13-year-old association with European performance bike maker KTM, in which it owns majority stake, he said.
Bajaj Auto, as part of the agreed-upon arrangement, will develop mid-capacity Triumph-branded motorcycles, in broad displacement range of 250cc-750cc at its plant in Chakan in Pune, and the bikes will be distributed globally.
The two companies have adopted a two-fold distribution strategy–Triumph will market the bikes in the markets where it has a strong distribution channel, and Bajaj Auto will add Triumph dealerships in countries such as Africa and India where it has strong presence.
Over time, Bajaj Auto will take over Triumph’s India distribution. Rakesh Sharma, executive director, Bajaj Auto said the company is looking to address segments where it doesn’t have a strong foothold yet, and it has found a method to form segment-specific alliances to achieve that.
Triumph is a storied, heritage brand which addresses a different segment than KTM does, he told CNBC-TV18.
“When we marry the two capabilities, we will open up and unlock new business in the mid-capacity segment which is 250cc-750 cc, and I think Bajaj will end up building new capabilities as well”, he said on the sidelines of the event to announce the alliance.
“The way markets are evolving all over the world and given the ambitions to try to address as many segments as possible, it becomes very difficult for any one single company to achieve that. Not only because these segments are different and brands require to address these segments being different, but also from an R&D capability point of view, the challenge is quite a lot. So therefore, we have found a method of forming alliances which are very specific to a segment” he added.
The alliance will result in a range of mid-capacity motorcycles, which will be introduced in the market in the year 2022, with a starting price under Rs 2 lakh, Paul Stroud, chief commercial officer, Triumph, told CNBC-TV18.
He said currently the company sells around a thousand Triumph motorcycles annually in India and it operates within a very small segment in the country and are doing well within it. Triumph will grow substantially when it enters the mid-capacity segment with Bajaj Auto, Stroud said.
