Harley-Davidson shuts sales and manufacturing operations in India

Harley-Davidson Inc. stated that it would discontinue its sales and manufacturing operations in India, effectively abandoning the world’s biggest motorcycle market after a decade of unsuccessful efforts to gain a foothold.

The company has been struggling for years to grow sales but has failed to grow the retail in the past 14 quarters.

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Harley had spent recent months moving dealerships in the country to cheaper locations.

Closing of the stores involves $75 million in restructuring costs, some 70 redundancies and the closure of its Bawal plant, walking away from a market worth about 17 million bike and scooter sales a year.

However, they will retain only a scaled-down sales office in Gurgaon, south of New Delhi.

Chief Executive Officer Jochen Zeitz, who took the reins at the company in February, unveiled a major “Rewire” in July to boost profits by reducing Harley’s product portfolio by 30% and investing in 50 markets with growth potential in North America, Europe and parts of Asia Pacific.

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India was one of the markets the company at that point committed to investing in more heavily.

Harley said it now expects total restructuring costs of about $169 million in 2020, but warned that the restructuring program, referred to internally as “The Rewire” was likely to incur more charges.

-PTC News