Harley-Davidson exits India due to low sales, shuts down manufacturing operations
American cult bike maker Harley Davidson has decided to shut down manufacturing and sales operations in India as part of its restructuring exercise under ‘The Rewire’ programm, under which it will focus only on select markets.
In August, the Milwaukee-based cruiser bike maker had indicated exiting some of the loss-making international markets to reroute focus on the US market. Harley said earlier in the year that it planned to reduce its product portfolio and exit lower volume markets, without specifying which ones.
Poor sales record and a dented demand outlook impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic forced the bike maker to exit the Indian market.
Harley-Davidson India sold less than 2,500 units in the last financial year, making it one of its worst-performing international markets, moneycontrol reported.
According to figures released by SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers), Harley-Davidson sold only 103 units of motorcycles in India in July 2020 and 176 units last month in the country. However, the demand for H-D bikes in India has plummeted over the last few years.
In FY19, the sales of Harley bikes in India fell 22 percent to 2,676 units as against 3,413 units sold in FY18. About 65 percent of Harley’s India volumes come from smaller capacity bikes of 750cc that it assembles at Haryana.
