VOL. 50 ISSUE 14 APRIL 9, 2013
core attributes and the readyto-race philosophy. I think these
three ingredients at the moment
are driving our success.
How much has your Bajaj
connection helped in producing this outcome?
It's a huge factor, without this
collaboration it simply would not
work. Thanks to Gerald Kiska
and our R&D team we developed
some super-cool motorcycles,
and thanks to the collaboration
with Bajaj we can offer them
for a 'reasonable' - I would not
say cheap - price, an affordable
price. In total we sold 22,000
units in 2012 coming from the
Bajaj factory at Chakan, split between the 125cc version as an
P69
entry-level model for mature markets, and the 200cc for developing markets. In Asia and South
America the 200cc displacement
is very popular, because there
you are not restricted on your
driving license to a 125cc capacity according to age. In India we
sold 3500 of the 200cc Duke,
having started in April, and I think
that's okay for the first year. India
is a huge market, but it's a prestige model and 120,000 Rupees
is really a premium price, plus we
basically had to fend off Honda
and Yamaha in that segment.
We're also doing very well in Malaysia, where we're already selling bikes that are assembled in
our new factory there from CKD
kits made in India.
When did that begin?
It's in Penang, and we opened
it about one year ago to avoid local import taxes as a joint venture
in Malaysia with a local partner,
Motor Nation. Last year we made
2800 units of the 200 Duke
there, and for sure we'll be adding our future models, so the 390
Duke naked bike and then the fully-faired RC will come, so I would
say 5000-6000 units is a very
foreseeable annual production
there. Malaysia is a very interesting motorcycle country, and with
Indonesia and all the ASEAN and
Latin American countries it's going to be one of our key focuses
in coming years.
I believe you also have another CKD operation in South
America?
Yes, in Colombia we've made
