Triumph launches Bonneville Speedmaster at Rs. 11.11 Lakh

Iconic British cruiser bike maker Triumph Motorcycles on Tuesday launched the 2018 Bonneville Speedmaster at Rs 11.11 lakh (ex showroom Delhi).

The bike is powered by a 1200cc engine that makes 77ps power and 106Nm of torque. This is Triumph's fifth launch in India in this fiscal year. In its four years so far, Triumph has so far delivered bikes to over 4500 customers that makes it the second largest premium bike maker in the country after arch-rival Harley Davidson.

The company has a 19 per cent share in the premium (500cc and above) bike segment on the back of a 63 per cent annual average growth in the last four years. While the overall motorcycle segment has grown at a tepid 2 per cent growth in this time frame, the premium segment itself has grown at a faster 22 per cent.

"We are excited with what we have been able to achieve in India in these last four years and even more thrilled with what is in store in the future," said Vimal Sumbly, managing director, Triumph Motorcycles India. "Currently 75 per cent of our line up is locally assembled at our Manesar facility. By June 2018 it would be expanded to cover 95 per cent of our portfolio."

In recent times, however, the going has not been as smooth even for premium bike makers in the country. Thanks to disruptions caused by demonetisation in 2016 and the rollout of GST in the middle of last year, Triumph's growth between April-December of 2017 was only 3.43 per cent while Harley Davidson has actually recorded 11.72 per cent decline.

The government's constant tinkering with taxation in luxury segment has not helped either. Recently, the Central Board of Excise and Customs slashed customs duty on imported motorcycles from high-end brands to 50 per cent.
 
Earlier, import of motorcycles with engine capacity of 800cc or less used to attract 60 per cent duty, while those with capacity of 800cc or more attracted 75 per cent duty.
At the same time, import duty on engine, gearbox, or transmission mechanism as a completely knocked down (CKD) kit in pre-assembled form of motorcycles, not mounted on a body assembly, was reduced to 25 per cent from 30 per cent while the duty on import of engine, gearbox and transmission mechanism as a CKU kit, which are not pre-assembled was hiked from 10 to 15 per cent.

In a tweet hours after the changes in taxation were made, Subly had mentioned in a tweet: "Good initiative to cut import duty on CBU. Post budget this is very good move. However, Ckd where is assembly done in India(start up for make in india)import duty increased by 5% & FTA no change. Request if CKD import duty for bikes could be relooked."