India slated to become Husqvarna Motorcycles production base

Husqvarna Motorcycles, a subsidiary of KTM, plans to use India as a production hub for their upcoming on-road motorcycles. KTM is in talks with Bajaj Auto to develop such motorcycles for international markets at their facility in Chakan. 

KTM’s tactic will be to initially source engines and certain components from India and then assemble the bikes at its Austrian facility. These units are slated to go on sale in Austria, other European markets and the US from early 2017 onwards. Post this, it is speculated that these bikes would then be introduced in emerging markets, including India.

"The focus was previously on off-roaders. Now we are developing on-road models which are partly based on the engine platforms we are doing together with Bajaj," KTM chief executive Stefan Pierer told ET in an interview. "In 2017, we will launch the first models in Europe and then in the US. We are looking at how it works and then rolling out globally, basically coming back to India." 

The new Husqvarna motorcycles may be powered by 125cc and 390cc engines, similar to the ones KTM currently uses in the products jointly developed with Bajaj. "We are getting engines and components for the models from Chakan for assembly in Austria initially. Later on, India could be part of the production plan,” Pierer said. 

India is an important base for exporting 125cc, 200cc and 390cc bikes for KTM because of the low-cost production benefits through its alliance with Bajaj. "In my opinion, Bajaj is the most efficient producer and it helps us price our KTM entrant products competitively in emerging markets. Together we could achieve very good quality levels on the products we sell globally,” Pierer said.