Bajaj Triumph has formally announced their partnership and plans today. The two-wheeler giants have announced that they will take on the prominent brands like Royal Enfield with the launch of new products in the coming times. These will be affordable, thus catering to a wider audience and will cater to the needs of growing markets internationally.
The partnership between Triumph and Bajaj will launch a brand-new motorcycle that will directly rival the Royal Enfield brand. It should be noted that Royal Enfield is the oldest two-wheeler manufacturer in the world and is the best-selling brand above the 300cc segment in India. They jointly announced that the first product launch would happen in 2022 and they will also launch products to target a wider range of customers, including sub-Rs 2 lakh band.
The Anglo-Indian partnership will collaborate to launch products in the 200cc to 750cc segment. There will be multiple products from the partnership that will be launched in the coming years.
While currently there are no Bajaj products that take on Royal Enfield's classic design directly, Triumph's Bonneville is something that offers the same classic lineage as the Royal Enfield motorcycles. However, since the Bonneville and other Triumph motorcycles are of very high capacity, the price is not competitive enough to challenge the Royal Enfield products.
Royal Enfield has also entered the higher-displacement segment with the launch of Interceptor and the Continental GT 650. The parallel-twin engine powering both the bikes are expected to be available with a slew of other body styles.
The cost-effective products from Bajaj and Triumph will focus on developing markets like India. However, they will be available in the markets of the UK too. Harley-Davidson, the leader in the cruiser motorcycles, will also launch a 250cc product in the future, which will take on the Bajaj-Triumph products directly.
Bajaj will not use the new platforms and the engines that will be the outcome of the partnership. Since Bajaj already develops products with KTM in the segment. Bajaj, however, will help Triumph to enter newer markets where they do not have a presence. Africa, Asia and Latin America are a few markets where Bajaj has a strong presence and distribution network. All these bikes will offer a high degree of localization to offer competitive pricing. The smaller capacity Triumph bikes will be made at the Chakan plant of Bajaj.
