Independence Day 2022: India’s Top Motorcycle Brands

Indian motorcycle brands are literally creating waves, not just in the world’s largest two-wheeler market, but across the world too. Today, some of the best-known motorcycle brands have an India connection or have some tie-up or collaboration with an Indian motorcycle brand. On the occasion of the 76^th Independence Day, we take a look at the top 5 Indian motorcycle brands, and their contribution to put India on the global map, not just in terms of volumes, but as a destination for high-quality manufacturing, as well as the two-wheeler powerhouse of the world.
 

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The Bajaj Pulsar N250 and Pulsar F250 are the newest and first 250 cc models in the Bajaj Pulsar family. 

Bajaj
 

Bajaj is a household name in India, and one of the oldest two-wheeler manufacturers. Today, Bajaj is India’s largest exporter of motorcycles and contributes more than 50 per cent of its annual production to be shipped to overseas markets, across 70 countries in Latin America, Africa, South Asia, Middle East and South East Asia. In 2021, Bajaj Auto became the first two-wheeler company in the world to cross a market capitalisation of Rs. 1 lakh crore, making it the most valuable two-wheeler maker. 
 

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The Chetak name has been resurrected in electric form with the new electric scooter with the Chetak name.
 

Bajaj Auto’s journey began 75 years ago, right after India’s independence in 1947, starting out by selling imported two-wheelers and three-wheelers. By the 1960s, Bajaj established itself as a manufacturer of scooters after obtaining a licence from Piaggio to manufacture Vespa scooters in India. Bajaj-branded scooters, based on the Vespa, like the Bajaj 150, Bajaj Super and Bajaj Chetak, became household names during the 1970s and '80s and established Bajaj as India's leading two-wheeler manufacturer.
 

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Bajaj will be manufacturing the small displacement Triumph motorcycle (pictured above) in India. The new motorcycle is expected to be introduced in 2023.
 

In 1984, Bajaj entered into an alliance with Japan's Kawasaki to launch the company's first 100 cc two-stroke motorcycle, called the Kawasaki-Bajaj KB100, followed by several models, up until the late 1990s under a technical assistance agreement with Kawasaki to expand production and sales of motorcycle in India. Bajaj started producing motorcycles in 1986, and changed the company's image from just being a scooter manufacturer to a two-wheeler manufacturer. By the turn of the century, the launch of the Pulsar range of motorcycles in the early 2000s, established the Bajaj Pulsar brand as a name to be reckoned with. Currently, Bajaj owns significant stake in Pierer Mobility, the parent company of KTM, and manufactures small displacement 125-390 cc KTM bikes in India. Bajaj also has a non-equity partnership with UK’s Triumph Motorcycles under which the two brands will be manufacturing small displacement Triumph bikes in India.
 

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Hero MotoCorp is India's largest two-wheeler manufacturer.

Hero
 

India’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer is also the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer by volume! Hero MotoCorp started operations as a joint venture between the homegrown Hero Group and Honda Motor Company in 1984. That alliance not only created the world’s largest two-wheeler company, but also one of the most successful joint ventures in the automotive industry worldwide. From 2010, the Hero Honda brand ceased to exist, and Hero MotoCorp became a household name, with the Hero Splendor still leading the sales charts as India’s highest selling motorcycle. In recent years, Hero MotoCorp has taken over the India business operations of Harley-Davidson, after the American brand decided to cease assembly and manufacturing operations in India.
 

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The Hero XPulse 200 has been instrumental in offering a capable, lightweight adventure bike, which has established a solid footing for Hero MotoCorp in the entry-level ADV category.
 

Over the past few years, Hero MotoCorp has been selling an average of between 7-8 million two-wheelers every year. The company also exports its motorcycles to more than 40 countries, across Asia, Africa, South and Central America. The company has a state-of-the-art Centre for Innovation and Technology (CIT) at Jaipur, Rajasthan, and has also set up the Hero Tech Centre in Germany, which focusses on the development of new vehicle concepts and future technologies in close cooperation with teams at CIT in Jaipur. In 2016, Hero MotoCorp formed Hero MotoSports Team Rally which is solely focussed on the “Rally Raid” category of motorsports. It enjoys the proud distinction of being the only Indian team to have participated n 5 Dakar Rallies and finished four of them with impressive results.
 

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The Royal Enfield Hunter 350 is the brand's newest offering and is designed as a compact, accessible model to extend the brand's customer base.
 

Royal Enfield
 

Royal Enfield is a manufacturer of classic-styled motorcycles, and has established itself as a leader in the global mid-size motorcycle market with a presence across the globe. Under the leadership of Siddhartha Lal, the Royal Enfield brand has grown on to become a multi-national Indian motorcycle brand with two tech centres, one at its Chennai headquarters, and the second one in Bruntingthorpe, in the UK. Royal Enfield enjoys the unique distinction of being the oldest global motorcycle brand in continuous production and has its manufacturing plants in Chennai, India.
 

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Eicher Motors & Royal Enfield Managing Director Siddhartha Lal unveiling the new Royal Enfield Hunter 350 in Bangkok in August 2022.

Established in 1901 as a British motorcycle brand, Royal Enfield was first introduced in India in 1955, when the original British-origin brand partnered with Madras Motors in India to form Enfield India, to assemble the Royal Enfield Bullet 350 in Chennai. By 1962, Madras Motors started making all the components of the Royal Enfield Bullet 350 in India. While the original Royal Enfield factory in Redditch shut shop in 1967, with the company finally dissolved in 1971, Enfield India continued making the Bullet and began branding the motorcycles Royal Enfield. By the 1990s, Royal Enfield collaborated with the Eicher Group and merged with it in 1994. 
 

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TVS Motor Company is well-known for making some of the most well-engineered two-wheelers in India.
 

TVS 
 

TVS is India’s third largest manufacturer, and also the second largest two-wheeler exporter after Bajaj Auto. The company currently exports its scooters and motorcycles to over 60 countries around the world. In 2020, TVS acquired British motorcycle brand Norton Motorcycles, and is looking to establish the Norton brand as a global powerhouse. Additionally, TVS also has a collaboration with BMW Motorrad, under which TVS manufactures the 310 cc models for BMW Motorrad in India. 
 

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The TVS Ronin is the brand's newest premium commuter motorcycle, something which the brand describes as a “modern retro.” 
 

TVS Motor Company started out in 1978 as a manufacturer of mopeds, and forayed into motorcycle production with one of the first Indo-Japanese joint ventures in 1982 with Suzuki to form the Ind-Suzuki brand. The Ind-Suzuki AX100, produced in 1984, was the first 100 cc two-stroke motorcycle of the 1980s which started a revolution in the Indian motorcycle market, followed by iconic models from other brands such as the Hero Honda CD100, Yamaha RX100 and Kawasaki-Bajaj KB100. 
 

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The TVS Apache RR 310 is the flagship model of the company, built on the common platform shared with BMW Motorrad's single-cylinder 310 models.
 

TVS shared a 19-year-long partnership with Suzuki, under which motorcycles were designed and manufactured specifically for the Indian market. The company was renamed TVS-Suzuki and produced several iconic models of the 1980s and 1990s. The Ind-Suzuki AX-100 was renamed the TVS-Suzuki AX-100 with an AX-100R variant as well as TVS-Suzuki Supra. During the 1990s, TVS dropped the prefix in its motorcycles and started manufacturing and selling motorcycles like the Suzuki Samurai, Suzuki Shogun and Suzuki Shaolin. In 2001, the partnership with Suzuki ended and the company was renamed as TVS Motor. Motorcycles such as the Suzuki Fiero continued to be manufactured and rebranded as TVS Fiero, after the company relinquished its rights to use the Suzuki name.
 

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TVS also makes a range of scooters, underscoring the brand's engineering and manufacturing capabilities.
 

Today, TVS Motor Company manufactures and sells a range of two-wheelers including scooters, and motorcycles in the 100 cc, 110 cc, 160 cc, 180 cc, 200 cc and 310 cc segments. TVS is well-known as the manufacturer of one of the most well-engineered two-wheelers from India. Recently, TVS and BMW Motorrad expanded their cooperation to include future technologies and electric vehicles (EVs) as well, and future products on common platforms are likely to include EVs.