Bajaj Auto-Triumph deal on track despite delays

MILAN: The product development collaboration between Pune-based Bajaj Auto and British company Triumph Motorcycles has been unaffected by the multiple delays between the two companies to reach a formal agreement, said two top Triumph officials. Triumph has already conducted early testing on prototype models, they said. In fact, Bajaj Auto chief Rajiv Bajaj visited the Triumph headquarters in Hinckley, United Kingdom three weeks ago to check on the product development.

“We haven’t slowed down on our cooperation on product development,” Steve Sargent, chief product officer, Triumph Motorcycles told ET on the sidelines of EICMA 2019 in Milan.

The two companies had announced plans to co-develop vehicles in August 2017 but a formal agreement between them has been delayed multiple times since. “It’s a very complicated thing when two well-established brands try to join together,” said Paul Stroud, chief commercial officer, Triumph Motorcycles.

“We’re seeing this as a long-term collaboration between ourselves and Bajaj, so we both want to get it right.”

Sargent and Stroud said that both the companies are close to reaching an agreement but products under this marriage will only appear in the market by 2022.

The agreement will be royalty-based in which both the companies will retain their intellectual property rights, they said, adding that there will be no cross-shareholding either way. As part of the collaboration, the companies will develop multiple middle-weight motorcycles on a new engine platform, which will then be manufactured by Bajaj and marketed by Triumph in the country.

The motorcycles will primarily compete against Royal Enfield in the market, which is the market leader the 300cc-500cc motorcycle market in India.

(The correspondent was in Milan at the invitation of Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India)