xBhp has a chat with Vimal Sumbly, Managing Director of Triumph Motorcycles India, where he tells us about his love for motorcycles and how he got into the business. He also speaks about the success of Triumph in India:
xBhp: Which was your first motorcycle?
Vimal Sumbly: I never owned a motorcycle when I was young. One of my relatives had a motorcycle and whenever I got a chance , I’d take it out of his garage and take it for a short spin without him realizing it. My first motorcycle was the Yamaha RX 100. And then I graduated to a 675. I love that bike.
xBhp: RX 100 was your first motorcycle and after that you jumped to a 675. Nothing in between?
Vimal Sumbly: I always worked for motorcycles. When I was in Bajaj I had a Pulsar, Avenger or KTM Duke to ride and when I moved to Triumph I had many bikes to ride. So, I never had to buy my own, I always had company bikes to ride. I have been riding for almost 2 decades now. In my office, there is a hanger for jackets but no place for a suit. You’ll never come and find suit, boot, and a tie here, it’ll always be riding jacket and riding gear. That’s how it is.
xBhp: Coming to the business of motorcycling. Earlier you were with Bajaj and now with Triumph. Was it a conscious decision to join the motorcycling field or it just happened?
Vimal Sumbly: No. I was born and brought up in Srinagar, the most beautiful place in the world. The roads there are beautiful. The scenery was beautiful. And there with my cousins I always used to get a ride as a pillion. Most of the guys those days never had a motorcycle. It was a scooter. So I would stand in front on the scooter, feeling the air on my face, riding through the beautiful Dal Lake and Lal Chowk and Nishat Bagh, etc. It was a very beautiful experience in life. So from that day in my life I always thought that I should do something related to automobiles. I still remember my father asking me what do you want to become, and I said I want to do automobile engineering and I want to become an automobile engineer. And with luck and hard work and focused approach, I did engineering and I was very clear in my mind that I have to work in automobile industry. So, I started my carrier with Force Motors. From there I moved to Murugappa group in TI Cycles. From there, I moved to Bajaj Auto and within Bajaj Auto I had assignments with Bajaj Auto & KTM. When KTM was launched in India, I worked as the National Sales Head for almost 1.5 years for KTM establishment in India. I have always been following motorcycling across the world through magazines, and as 15-20 years back there was no internet so mostly through magazines, going to the library and reading about motorcycles and reading about the customisation of motorcycles. I saw a Triumph for the first time when I saw the movie called ‘The Great Escape’. So love for Bonneville was always there. I always thought that the bike is another part of a human being. I was very fortunate when the opportunity knocked the door and I thought let me try it and try to develop this market in India. And for us at Triumph Motorcycles, India is like a start-up. We were starting from scratch. This is one market for Triumph where there was no Triumph distributor or dealer. So we started from scratch. So I thought it is a start-up and a brilliant brand which brings a different pedigree of being a legendary and iconic brand. So I took it as an opportunity which knocked on my door. So I’d say that I always wanted to be with two wheels. I’ve got opportunities to work with four wheels, but I’ve always refused them because I think I belong to two wheels.
xBhp: You mentioned that you were born in Srinagar. Have you been to Ladakh on a motorcycle before you came into the motorcycle business?
Vimal Sumbly: Unfortunately I didn’t have a license at that time. So I used to go with my father in his jeep to these beautiful places. But I wanted to ride to Ladakh. For me riding is all about individuality. I’m a little different rider. I don’t feel I should tell people what I rode or what destination I did. I’m kind of rider who always feels happy. Just to tell you how my typical weekend is – I get up at 6 am in the morning and take out my bike from the garage quietly, as I have 2 young kids and if they hear they come running. So I have to push my bike literally for about 400-500 meters before I start it. And by the time they wake up I’m back at the breakfast table. I love biking, I love riding. It has always been there. We did an event last year. We did a flag-off of a ride from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. It was a great privilege to receive those riders in Srinagar and flag them off to Leh and receive them back.
xBhp: So when you aren’t riding or selling motorcycles what keeps you busy? What are your hobbies?
Vimal Sumbly: I do read books. I do little bit browsing on the internet. I’m very active on social media. It keeps me engaged with what’s happening around. I’ve stopped reading physical newspapers. I like to be very specific. I like to do one thing at a time and do it perfectly. Apart from that I love to play cricket. I have played cricket at school and college level. I love to go for vacations to hill stations or beaches. I love to enjoy nature more than anything else. I was telling this to somebody the other day that either I am on a Triumph, in an Uber, in a plane, in a hotel, or I am at home. These are the five things where you find me. I have reduced driving; I don’t think driving is really engaging in India.
xBhp: It has been quite some time since Triumph Motorcycles entered India. Have you noticed any change in the Indian motorcycling market like change in terms of how people buy their motorcycles and what affects their motorcycle buying decision in India?
Vimal Sumbly: Triumph is going to complete 3 years only in January 2017. I would say we have just arrived in India. But thanks to our customers and dealers we are well established. When we entered India, market was concentrated on one segment of motorcycles. What Triumph bought are 5 broad segments of motorcycles in India. We have classics, roadsters, supersports, adventure and cruiser; so what we brought to the market are different motorcycles for all consumers. And under these five categories we have 10 different bikes. So we brought that change. Second change we brought is that we focus more on the product in terms of getting technology to the customer. If you look at today all our bikes have ABS; there is no other competing brands who can claim this. We also brought ride-by- wire and traction control.
In terms of maturity of the market; yes, it is growing rapidly. When we launched our bikes in India, sales were around 1500-2000 motorcycles a year, but last year it was close to 10,000 and I am expecting it to double in the next 5 years. Now customers have a wide variety to choose from. All the big and established brands are available in India. In the last 2 years, we are continuously growing and the reason for that growth is 3-prong strategy; No. 1 is to get the correct brand and what I mean by the correct brand is that we have never brought in a brand, which is finished in the world. We have launched it (the new Bonneville) in London and we launched it in India simultaneously. Not only we launched the product at the same time, we also launched the product with 100% of the features that are available globally. We have never done a compromise to reduce the cost of bike by removing any features and bring it to India. So that is one strategy. The second strategy is to ensure 3S facility and what I mean by 3S facility is Sales, Service and Spares and accessories under one roof. And, 100% of our service team is factory trained. So, we trained the Indian technicians on superbikes. Along with that we also ensured roadside assistance. Today we can claim proudly that we have 200 km free pick and drop in case there is a breakdown because one of the biggest block in a consumer’s mind was to know what to do if there’s a problem with the bike. The third is turnaround time; to give him parts and accessories is a very big challenge. What we did is that we built our own warehouse in Manesar and today our turnaround time is the best in majority of the cases; 90% of the time we fix the bike within 72 hours. That is the TAT that we follow. And the next thing is to ensure that there is a backup. What I mean with backup is we have CKD facility wherever we have good volume and we use Thailand route and UK route for CBUs. So the product strategy was correct. The backbone strategy in terms of reach and service was correct, and third was having a facility for assembly and manufacturing.
xBhp: How many bikes are currently CKD?
Vimal Sumbly: See, the decision to bring CKD or CBU depends upon the volume. Roughly around 35%-40% of our contribution on the product line comes from the CKD, and the balance comes from CBU and within this we use the FTA route. What is important in India is to get the pricing right. If you look at our pricing in India, whether it’s CBU or CKD, it is very-very competitive – competitive not only in terms of price but in terms of features it is way ahead. In terms of technology, it is way ahead. So we are proud of our reliability, quality, & technology. And we do the pricing on basis of competition. The best part of Triumph is that it has 5 manufacturing facilities in the globe, and 2 CKD assembly facilities, one in Brazil and other in Gurgaon, so we can plan accordingly.
xBhp: When Triumph came to India, you had plans to launch a 250cc bike, which didn’t materialize for some reason. Now after 3 years in India, do you see Triumph bringing a motorcycle that is designed specifically keeping Indian consumers in mind?
Vimal Sumbly: As a brand, we want to be focused. Our strategy is to focus on big bikes. Why I’m saying this; if you look at the luxury car market between 1992 to 2000, there were barely 2000-3000 luxury cars sold in India. Last year, it was 32,000 cars. What happened in the luxury car segment is going to happen in the luxury motorcycle segment. So it’s better to establish that segment and put resources & focus on that. So we will continue to focus on greater than 500cc luxury & premium segment. That is our focus and we would like to strengthen ourselves there.
xBhp: We’re not talking particularly about a smaller capacity bike, but maybe a bigger bike that is tailor made keeping in mind the demands of Indian market for certain features and/ or our price sensitivity?
Vimal Sumbly: There is a very big myth in Indian mindset that the customer in India looks for cost. There are various products in India, which are very costly yet they get sold. I think India needs a value for money product. Our country is a value for money country. India is ready to pay for quality. Unfortunately over a period of time, India has always neglected the top end of the society – people who have worked hard to achieve something in life. There are few people who have been passing money from generation to generation. Now we have new set of entrepreneurs, start-up CEOs, etc. They are bringing more and more business in India and they are earning well. Now they want to indulge in luxury, they want to indulge in premium. What is wrong in that? We would like to work on the top end of the industry. I think it is the ignored segment in India. We have a brilliant company Bajaj in India. They are catering to that segment very well. They are bringing latest technology in that segment of up to 250cc. We would like to cater the segment which is 500 cc and above. Look at ride by wire, different modes, and traction control; all these features are something which you could previously find only in a luxury car or in an SUV. Now all these features are built in in our motorcycles, so I think we are setting a benchmark for all the motorcycle companies in India.
xBhp: Which one is the hottest selling motorcycle in Triumph’s portfolio?
Vimal Sumbly: If you see the industry today, we are the market leader in classics, we are the market leader in adventure, and we are very competitive in roadster and in the segment of supersports we are almost there. But 40% to 45% of our portfolio comes from classics, and other segments are equally divided. So second largest segment after classics is our adventure, followed by roadsters and supersports and cruisers. You have to give credit to Triumph Motorcycles to bring adventure motorcycle culture to India. Tiger was the first adventure bike in India and we are close to 500+ customers on it in just two and a half years of operations in India. We brought a new culture of riding with our adventure bikes and we dominate this segment.
What Triumph has done is that not only have we put a brand in the market, but we started Triumph Tiger Training Academy and we started training people on adventure bikes. Through our dealerships, we started organizing trips through to Leh-Ladakh. Raid-de- Himalaya, last year one of our customer went on his own we gave him backup & spares from our dealership. We have done race track training. We had a tie up with California Superbike School and also a tie up with Rajini Krishnan at BIC, and we also did Triumph Tiger Training Academy in 7 cities in India. Apart from that our corporate social responsibility is to educate our riders on how to ride safely and responsibly. When we deliver our bike, we ensure that we give proper 1-hour training on the product. We don’t deliver our bike to anyone who comes in chappals or flip-flops or without riding gears. We have refused close to 10 customers in India. We tell them that we’ll deliver the bike to your residence, but we would not like you to ride without riding gear. If you look at IBW, we had more than 500 customers. We had to refuse around 15-20 guys from joining our ride telling them that you are not in proper riding gear and we are not going to take you along with us. So we have brought that culture in India. I think ride safely is what everybody talks about, but no one talks about riding responsibly. Most of the people who are buying Triumph have arrived in life. They are CEOs, successful people, very humble, very approachable and Triumph is the reflection of what they have achieved in life.
xBhp: The new Bonneville series was launched at the Auto Expo this year. How has been the response so far?
Vimal Sumbly: Amazing response! The series has just crossed 200 unit sales, and we have bookings for another 200 motorcycles.
xBhp: So is it (the new Bonneville sales) as per the target that you set for that particular motorcycle or has it exceeded your expectations?
Vimal Sumbly: It is a new brand; you know it is always a challenge to put a target for a new brand. I would say it has surpassed the target because when you launch a big brand and you launch it with new features and new styling, you are very cautious about laying down targets. So I’d say that we’ve overshot our target and it’s the fastest growing brand for us now. Doing 200 a year is pretty large for us. We hope to continue this pace.
xBhp: You talked about the Tiger Training Academy. This segment is still evolving and still taking shape. Do you have more plans in the pipeline for organizing these sorts of events?
Vimal Sumbly: Yes, as I told you, as a brand we are here for long term. Whether we get a product, it is going to stay for long term. Whether we open a dealership, it is going to stay for the long term. In terms of Triumph Tiger Training Academy, you will see another season of it next year. We’ll do it in 7-8 cities. It is a brilliant training academy. It’s a 2-day session, the first day is about safety; how to ride; where to put your details like mobile number, blood group, your address, your emergency contact number and which part of the bike you should put it on; and what are the dos and don’ts when you do adventure riding. And then we physically make them go through trails, the ditches, the mud slush. We want to grow that segment. I think every superbike manufacture today should also put a little thought not only in selling but also putting something behind training this will help the industry to grow quicker.
xBhp: If you had a chance of going around the country which bike from the Triumph stable you’ll pick?
Vimal Sumbly: Honestly, I love the Street Triple because it defines me as an individual. It’s very nimble. It can easily go in the bylanes. I would always love to go back to the city where I was born, i.e., Srinagar, go in the bylanes on the Street Triple and ride it peacefully and enjoy the beauty of Kashmir on that bike. That’s my favourite bike. I love it.
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