Vimal Sumbly, Managing Director, Triumph Motorcycles India, accepts the award for the Tiger 800.

TRIUMPH TIGER 800

How has 2015 been for Triumph?

It’s been fantastic. In terms of our presence on the roads, you’ve started seeing Triumph’s on a regular basis. The regular sighting of these bikes being used daily shows that our presence has increased. We’ve now got around 2,300 customers who are riding Triumph motorcycles in India. Year-on-year, we’re inline with our targets. We expect to sell around 1,500 units in this year, which gives us a 28-29% market share in the 500cc and above, and Rs. 5 lakh-and-up price segment – and we hope to be able to continue that growth.

One thing that’s surprised us is how much mileage our customers are putting on their bikes. Our initial impression was that customers wouldn’t be clocking high mileage, as they would use their bikes more as weekend toys. But customers have surprised us by doing the first 800 kilometres in less than the first month of ownership. What we’re seeing now is that customers are using these bikes as their primary mode of transport – using them for their daily commute, mainly in Bangalore or Delhi, which was unheard of in the premium bike segment. This shows us that our bikes are being bought by real riders, who are happy using their bikes on a daily basis.

What kind of folks are buying adventure bikes like the Tiger? And how are these buyers using the bike?

There are two things about the Tiger’s sales in India. One is that customers are not just buying the bike – they’re buying the whole package. Along with the bike, they also invest in panniers, riding jackets, lights, and other accessories. In fact, internally we refer to the Tiger as an SUV on two wheels. So we’re happy that our customers are riding them through all kinds of conditions. We’ve noticed that the majority of our Tiger buyers are mature riders. They’ve bought the Tiger because they know what the bike is capable of. They understand their bikes, and they’ve bought the bike for a purpose – so we see them racking up large mileage in a short time. In fact, the Tiger is the bike where we see the fastest 3,000-5,000 kilometres come up. Our customers are using them for weekend trips around cities, and for longer expeditions – like touring Leh Ladakh. This bike engages you. It gives you the opportunity to do large distances, and our customers are making the maximum use of it.

What are your plans for 2016, and how do you see the year playing out?

The year is fully packed with action. You’ve just seen one complete brand launch happen with the new range of Bonneville’s, and you’ll see many more in the coming months. Typically it takes 4-5 months for us to get a bike homologated in India. So, by the time the products are available for sale, it’s anywhere between 3-6 months delayed from the global launch. But, this year we’re using the FTA with Thailand to get the new Bonneville’s into India at the same time as they go on sale worldwide. So you can expect to see the new range getting launched at the Auto Expo next year. And with the new Bonneville range, we’ll be offering customers the option of doing a lot of customisation on their bikes. We’re making an online configurator that takes the ‘Build your own Bike’ into a different format. So, customers can choose their own configuration, fully customized, and when they place their order based they’ll even get an indication of the delivery date of the bike.

There’s a lot of action in the 300-400cc segment, are you considering entering that space?

We have a different strategy. In India, everyone wants to work from the bottom end of the industry – on the volume game. But I think the top end is completely ignored. Today, the new generation of Indians – mostly very young General Mangers and CEO’s – have started splurging in luxury. I think someone has to take care of them. And my objective is to do so. That’s why we brought the Rocket into India. No one could have imagined that we could sell almost 85 Rockets (with a price tag of Rs.25 lakhs) in the last two years. I think, over a period of time, the entire industry will start looking at the India at the top end. We want to provide the best-of-the-best to the top-end. If Apple is the best in the mobile phone business, or if Taj is the best in hospitality, that’s the space we want to occupy.

The person who saves his or her money to buy one of our bikes, that person is the real buyer according to me. That’s the new India. The new band of the top-middle class is defining what luxury is in India. And for them quality and reliability is absolutely imperative. And we would like to be on that side of the fence. I have no interest in market share – we want to make biking large. It’s going to need investments, but we’re creating the market for the future.

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