When automotive firms embark on alliances, it’s a roll of the dice on how such marriages will play out. Carmakers have not been victorious at such efforts. Ford’s first tango with Mahindra and Mahindra failed. Renault’s dalliance with M&M went the same way. Fiat and Tata Motors gave their tie-up their best shot but the play stumbled in the long term. For Hero MotoCorp, India’s largest two-wheeler company, it’s a calculated gambit to revive Harley-Davidson whose ride in India has been anything but easy since it got here. But can both players, who announced the tie-up this October, win in such a deal?
With over $6 billion in market cap, Harley-Davidson has been slowing down over the last decade as young millennials became disengaged from the gasoline-powered bike. It closed operations in India in September, after 11 years of trying to get sales to grow. Bikes sold for the entire duration were around 25,000 a number projected to be sold annually.
Courtesyg: Google (photo)
