Harley Davidson Seeking Cut In India Import Duty For Better Pricing Of Its Motorcycles. Reduction in import duty on vehicles will open up the Indian market for several players and attract more foreign investment. And of course, Harley-Davidson is very interested in convincing India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reduce these taxes and eliminate most regulatory issues. Harley-Davidson India managing director Anoop Prakashs was quoted as saying, “When we started our operations in 2009, the prices of our bikes were too high. It was then that we decided to install our completely-knocked down (CKD) assembling units in India to facilitate ease of doing business.” He further added, “With’s ‘Make in India’ government call, we anticipate India to climb up in the index of ease of doing business.”
Polaris Announces Grand Opening of Manufacturing Facility in Poland. Polaris Industries Inc. announced the grand opening of its new manufacturing facility in Opole, Poland. The 345,000-square-foot facility will be the first Polaris plant dedicated to manufacturing Off-Road Vehicles (ORV’s) outside of North America. Employee training has already begun at the Opole facility which will employ 300 people in 2015 and should begin shipments to customers in the first quarter of 2015. The plant will produce approximately 35 different ORV vehicle models in 2015 and ship them to six subsidiaries and over thirty distributors in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”) region. Opole will also house research and design for the Europe, Middle East and Africa markets allowing vehicles to be tailored to local needs.
Motus Motorcycles Moving Engine Production to Birmingham, Alabama. Motus Motorcycles, based in the original site of the Barber motorcycle museum, has decided to move the production of its V-4 “Baby Block” engine from Texas to Birmingham to streamline the company’s assembly operation. The move will add an undetermined number of jobs to the crew of eight that already works for Motus’ Birmingham facility. The company plans to produce 250 to 300 of its motorcycles during the first year of production, according to company president Lee Conn.
Las Vegas Harley-Davidson Dealership Relocated To The Strip. Formerly in an eastern neighborhood, Las Vegas Harley-Davidson recently moved to a purpose-built showroom just steps from the iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip. In addition to having the possibility to buy everything and anything Harley, the dealer offers rentals, which start at $100 for four hours. For novices, there’s even a riding academy under the same roof. Address is 5191 Las Vegas Blvd. South, open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Zero Motorcycles, The Global lLeader In The Electric Motorcycle industry, Announced Its 2015 Model Line With Premium New sSandard Equipment including Showa suspension, Bosch anti-lock brake systems and Pirelli tires. The refinements are designed to improve the ride experience by offering incredibly smooth suspension, optimal braking responsiveness and unrivaled traction. To increase range, Zero introduced new battery cells with 10% greater capacity on the Zero S, Zero SR and Zero DS. When combined with the Power Tank accessory, this yields an industry leading range of up to 185 miles in the city, 94 miles on the highway at 70 mph or 115 miles at 55 mph.
I really hope Motus makes it. Seen a lot of motorcycles companies making a few hundred bikes a year at a high price fail over the years.
Pole-aris will begin making off road bikes where?
Does this mean that we can recycle and ‘polish up’ all of those lame old Polish jokes of several decades back and apply them to these vehicles and the factory where they are produced?
You know, like the one…