- KTM could be base for Bajaj-Triumph motorcycles
- Range to consist of 200cc-750cc offerings
- First small-capacity motorcycle to roll out by 2022
Bajaj and Triumph officially announced their global partnership wherein the former will build Triumph motorcycles in the 250cc to 750cc range at its Chakan plant. Bajaj will then retail these small-capacity motorcycles in markets like South East Asia, Europe and India.
Now, the brands have revealed that these motorcycles will be completely new products built from the ground up. However, we believe Bajaj will use India-made KTM platforms as the base for the upcoming small-capacity Triumph motorcycles. As we have seen with Bajaj’s motorcycles (which use KTM engines as a base) it is possible to have the same engine but with a completely different character.
This move will not only help in substantially reducing development cost but will also help with economies of scale as the new Triumph engines will use almost similar components. It would further bring down the cost of production for the 200cc-400cc Triumph motorcycles. We could also see a similar move with the chassis of these motorcycles.
As far as the base for the 400cc-750cc motorcycles go, we expect Bajaj to use the upcoming range of KTM 490cc parallel-twin engines that it will be producing in India. Nevertheless, the first small-capacity Triumph motorcycle is expected to roll out by 2022. It is expected to be priced around Rs 2 lakhs and will be followed by higher-capacity models later.
