The iconic US motorcycle maker Harley Davidson, which is known as one of the best when it comes to developing cruising motorcycles unveiled 5 customized bikes at the 2012 Delhi Auto Expo today. True to the Harley philosophy, the core differentiating point was that no 2 Harleys showcased at the Expo were the same and each one was customized accordingly to put forward Harley Davidson’s brand lifestyle and culture. According to the company, each of the 5 bikes have been designed and accessorized by the Harley-Davidson India team to demonstrate the variety of personalization options available to Harley owners. These were unveiled amidst the presence of the Delhi Harley Owners Group.

“At Harley-Davidson, we are passionate about personalization and self-expression, and are extremely excited to share examples of the kind of customization available across all our motorcycle families. We appreciate each rider’s unique style and offer them a range of over 5,000 Genuine Motor Parts and AccessoriesTM to tailor the form, fit and aesthetics of their motorcycles – creating a special bond between them and their bikes,” Anoop Prakash, Managing Director, Harley-Davidson India, said.

The 5 bikes showcased by the company were the Super Glide, the Street Bob, the Fatboy, the Iron 883 and 48. The Super Glide was the first ‘factory custom’ motorcycle to be built originally 1971. A bullet headlight, street slammer handlebars, switchblade custom wheels, custom chrome front fork end kit and touch of chrome at places give the machine a dynamic look. Also, this bike has been fitted with the Harley-Davidson Screaming Eagle® high performance kit and has been styled with the legendary Willie G. Davidson’s signature ‘skull’ motif. Harley Davidson accessories include derby cover, timer cover, fuel tank, hand grips, foot pegs, and mirrors. The customized Street Bob gets LED headlights, forward foot controls and side mounted number plates along with Edge Cut hand grips, foot pegs, shifter pegs, brake and clutch lever, Magnum custom wheels with 180 section rear tire and a Harley-Davidson Screaming Eagle® exhaust with a buckshot shield kit.

The Iron883 gets a “Dark Custom” derby cover, timer cover and fuel tank cover along with “Diamond Black” shifter pegs, hand grips and foot pegs. It also gets custom straight handle bars, side mounted number plates, LED head lamps, Harley-Davidson Screaming Eagle® exhaust with a buckshot shield kit and black anodized air cleaner covers. The XL 1200X Forty-Eight features a spectrum metal flake “Big Bass” gold tank instead of the stock tank alongwith Solo Spring Black Leather Seat, side mounted number plates, Harley-Davidson Screaming Eagle® exhaust with the buckshot shield kit, and Screaming Eagle heavy breather kit. The StreetBob will be retailing for a price of Rs. 9.95 lakhs while the Super Glide will be sold at Rs. 11.5 lakhs, all prices Ex-showroom, Delhi. Currently, Harley Davidson offers 15 models in its motorcycle line-up in India, available through its 7 authorized dealerships.

The iconic motorcycling maker, Harley Davidson is gearing up to take the entire motorcycling industry by storm come 2012 at the 2012 Delhi Auto Expo to be held from January 7th to 11th. Harley Davidson has planned to showcase its unique culture and lifestyle elements that the brand introduced in India when it forayed into the shores 2 years ago. Harley has decided to keep its theme as an industrial warehouse set that is inspired by the raw styling of its iconic range of motorcycles. Harley Davidson, the global leader in cruising and touring motorcycles with its presence in more than 70 countries launched its India operations in the year 2009 and its first dealership came up in 2010. Currently the company offers 15 models of its entire product line-up for the Indian customers through 6 authorized dealerships.

The company to showcase its core differentiation “no two Harley Davidsons are the same” and that “every customer is a custom” has plans to showcase more than 5000 parts and accessories at the Auto Expo and customers will be given a choice to customize and design their machine of their dreams. Also on display will be Harley Davidson’s entire range of merchandise, apparel and riding gear. The Company will also be showcasing a part of its global Pink Label Range, a Harley-Davidson clothing and accessories line that supports breast cancer research throughout the world. Present on the occasion will be Mr. Ray Drea, VP of Styling for the Harley-Davidson Motor Company, who will provide insights on styling and design at Harley-Davidson and Mr. Frank Savage, Manager of Industrial Design for Harley-Davidson Motor Company, who will be sharing his knowledge on product development and customization at Harley-Davidson. The customers will also get a chance to let their hair down to the electrifying groove of New Delhi based rock band ‘CIRCUS’ and to the Mumbai based Indian Rock-n-Metal band, ‘SPLIT’.

Earlier when you went to buy a Harley Davidson, you could take financing from ICICI bank only (obviously with other banks too but Harley Davidson has a tie up with ICICI bank). However with the reputation of ICICI banks practices of recovering the loan amount, many prospective buyers were vary of taking funding from them. Now Harley Davidson India has partnered with HDFC Bank for consumer and dealer financing. HDFC Bank is known for the fantastic service, specially when it comes to car/bike loans. With the addition of HDFC Bank as a partner, the American motorcycle maker can expect more people rushing to their dealerships. Now only if they start locally manufacturing the components of their bikes. Wishful thinking, you bet!

“We are delighted to welcome HDFC Bank as a preferred finance partner and are confident that our customers will be well served by the bank’s pan-India presence and competitive rates. This arrangement will help more motorcycle enthusiasts realize their dream of joining the Harley-Davidson community,” Anoop Prakash, MD, Harley-Davidson India, said.

Harley-Davidson has launched the Fat Boy Special in India. The Fat Boy Special is priced at Rs. 19,70,000/- (ex-showroom Delhi) and will be imported as a completely built unit. It is available across all Harley-Davidson dealerships in addition to the 14 models currently available in the 2011 line-up. The Harley Davidson Fat Boy Special is available in satin chrome and features a reshaped seat and handlebar. The half-moon footboards, black wheels and leather tank panel complete the Fat Boy Special.

The Fat Boy Special is a Harley-Davidson Softail and is powered by a counter-balanced Twin Cam 96B V-Twin powertrain. The rigid-mounted engine in the frame produces 125 Nm of torque at 3500 RPM and features the Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection. The engine is finished in black powdercoat with bright machined highlights on the cylinder fins, and satin-chrome engine and primary drive covers. Mated to a 6-speed Cruise Drive transmission, the gearbox features a new helical-cut fifth gear for smooth operation.

Harley Davidson has been doing decent numbers in India. The cult motorcycle manufacturer has been able to attract woman to showrooms and at the same time lure actors to ride the machines in movies as well as real life. However all this won’t in anyway help Harley Davidson to gain significant market share and thus the company is now considering the development of an India specific model. The company is said to be working closely with its suppliers to design and develop a model for India. The Indian specific model will be the cheapest Harley Davidson motorcycle in the country and will be priced around Rs. 4 lakhs.

Harley Davidson plans to use an engine displacement of 500-750cc on the India specific motorcycle. The lowest displacement Harley Davidson bike in the world uses a 883cc engine. This will result in extensive development to design and develop a low capacity motor as the company doesn’t have any readily available. The company will export the motorcycle to other Asian countries once it goes on sale by the end of 2012. Currently the company is concentrating on local assembly of all its bikes in the country and its cheapest motorcycle is the Super Low, priced at Rs. 5.5 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Just a few days ago, Harley Davidson sold its very first motorcycle to a woman in India and now has managed to sell its second. The second woman to own the U.S. automaker ‘s motorcycle is Kasthuri Deodhar, a 33-year old architect from Hyderabad. The Iron 883 was gifted by her husband and costs Rs. 6.5 lakhs (ex-showroom). However, the Iron 883 will be used for the weekend with the Hyundai i10 doing daily duties for the biking enthusiast. Could we soon have woman specific models from Harley Davidson?

“I am sure many more ladies would love to ride a Harley. I really liked when so many people stared at me while I was riding the bike. We used to have a Yamaha Rajdoot 350 and before that we had (Bajaj) Eliminator and now the Iron, the best that one can ask for,” Kasthuri Deodhar said.

Sheeja Mathews is the first woman to buy a Harley Davidson motorcycle in India. The HR professional bought a Iron 883 from the company’s showroom in Bangalore. The 34-year old has been riding her husband’s Yamaha Rajdoot 350 for 10 years now and plans to use her new Harley to cruise to her office atleast once a week. Mathews is into drag racing and just like other women, loves to shop and eat. The Harley Davidson Iron 883 set her back by Rs. 8 lakhs (after taxes, registration and accessories), with 20% contribution coming from her husband. The Iron 883 is one of the two bikes to be manufactured by Harley Davidson in India at their Bawal facility in Haryana.

“I didn’t know that I was the first woman to buy a Harley Davidson in India till the company people told me. I thought of upgrading to a Harley when they opened a showroom here. I do drive a (Tata) Safari and (Chevrolet) Cruze but I love bikes,” Mathews said.

Source – IBN Live

The recent revision in CKD duties has lead to increase in costs for all companies which assemble completely knocked down kits in the country, including Harley Davidson. However the Milwaukee based bike maker has affirmed that it won’t increase the price of its CKD assembled bikes, even though the company would have to pay more duty to the Government. The company will start assembling the SuperLow (priced at Rs. 5.5 lakhs) and Iron 883 (priced at Rs. 6.5 lakhs) from its upcoming facility at Bawal in Haryana.

“We are firm in honouring our commitment to our dealers, customers and enthusiasts across India, and are delighted to announce that we will maintain our current prices on our CKD models, the Iron 883 and SuperLow, for this calendar year,” Harley-Davidson India MD Anoop Prakash said.

Harley-Davidson is holding the Freedom Film Festival in India, which is an adrenaline packed three days where they would be showcasing iconic motorcycle films. ‘Ghost Rider’, ‘Easy Rider’ and ‘Wild One’ are some of the famous ones being showcased. The festival runs from 4th – 6th March at PVR Cinemas in Gurgaon, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Proceeds from ticket sales will go to charity. Check out the schedule below.

GURGAON
Screening Details: PVR Premiere, Ambience Mall, Gurgaon : 8:00 pmonwards
4 March (Friday) 5 March (Saturday) 6 March (Sunday)
Wild One The Motorcycle Diaries Easy Rider

NEW DELHI
Screening Details: PVR Premiere, Select City Walk, Saket, New Delhi : 8:00 pm onwards
4 March (Friday) 5 March (Saturday) 6 March (Sunday)
The Motorcycle Diaries Wild One Easy Rider

Capital Harley-Davidson, GF-120/121, DLF Promenade Mall, Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi – 110 070
Tel: +91 (11) 4109 6396, 4103 5870

MUMBAI
Screening Details: PVR, Phoenix Mall, Mumbai : 8:00 pm onwards
4 March (Friday) 5 March (Saturday) 6 March (Sunday)
The Motorcycle Diaries Wild One Easy Rider

Seven Islands Harley-Davidson, The Point, Plot No. 253, 30th Road, TPS III, Bandra West, Mumbai – 400 050, Maharashtra
Tel: +91 98812 48488, +91 (22) 6155 7777

BANGALORE
Screening Details: PVR, Forum Mall, Bangalore : 8:00 pm onwards
4 March (Friday) 5 March (Saturday) 6 March (Sunday)
The Motorcycle Diaries Wild Hogs Ghost Rider

Tusker Harley-Davidson, 55/2 Lavelle Road, Bangalore – 560 001
Tel: +91 91647 67676, +91 99647 67676

HYDERABAD
Screening Details: PVR, Central Mall, Hyderabad : 8:00 pm onwards
4 March (Friday) 5 March (Saturday) 6 March (Sunday)
The Motorcycle Diaries Ghost Rider Wild Hogs

Banjara Harley-Davidson, 8-2-269/4 C&D, Road No. 2, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad – 500 033, Andhra Pradesh
Tel: +91 90100 05111, +91 90002 22777

CHANDIGARH
Screening Details: PVR, Central Mall, Chandigarh : 8:00 pm onwards
4 March (Friday) 5 March (Saturday) 6 March (Sunday)
The Motorcycle Diaries Wild Hogs Ghost Rider

Himalayan Harley-Davidson, Shop No. 29, DLF City Center, IT Park, Chandigarh – 161 101. Tel: +91 99889 88818-23, +91 172-6545454

Harley-Davidson had recently announced its plans to locally assemble its bikes in India. However the American bike maker has gone one up by deciding to setup a manufacturing facility in Haryana. The company has offered land to its US and Thailand suppliers and asked them to setup bases in Bawal in Haryana. This move will reduce the prices of Harley-Davidson bikes to the tune of 45%, resulting in the Superlow costing only Rs. 3 lakhs. The mother plant at Haryana would be the first manufacturing unit of any superbike maker in India and will export to other Asian counties as well. Harley-Davidson sold 250 units of its premium bikes in just 6 months. With the local manufacturing, the company can expect to more than quadruple that figure.