Thaiumpth are doing rather well

"With Japanese two-strokes, many parts are only lightly stressed, so steel quality might not be so critical."


Say more.

Another question; do Triumph have to manufacture bikes, or a parts of the bike, in the market in which they are sold? i.e. in order to sell their bikes in India do they need a proportion of the bike to be made in India?

Thinking that BMW has a factory in South Carolina and Honda has a factory in Ohio. Would a US based BMW owner be concerned whether their vehicle came from a factory in Munich or not?

daveforty said:

Another question; do Triumph have to manufacture bikes, or a parts of the bike, in the market in which they are sold? i.e. in order to sell their bikes in India do they need a proportion of the bike to be made in India?

Thinking that BMW has a factory in South Carolina and Honda has a factory in Ohio. Would a US based BMW owner be concerned whether their vehicle came from a factory in Munich or not?

Click to expand...

No I don't think triumph have to manufacture anything motorcycle in any countries they to sell
I don't think a US based owner would worry where his BMW is made
Why would he?
I can only speak for myself as a British bike enthusiast and as such id really love all triumphs to be made in the UK
As a side note I know someone that bought a new MG not that long ago because he really thought it was a British car

A bit more on production numbers

"I don't think a US based owner would worry where his BMW is made." No he wouldn't. He just expects BMW quality and workmanship. Kind of like buying a Honda. No one cares where it's made because it a Honda and that means quality.

Harley-Davidson has been playing this game for years. They tout "Made In America" for all the xenophobic, post war, Boomers all the while sourcing electronics, fuel management, computer chips, brakes, tires off-shore or from national suppliers who themselves source the components off-shore. It's an open secret that most choose it ignore.

To their credit H-D does assemble and finish bikes in the US but they also carry a hefty premium price tag that up until now, most US riders were willing to pay. Also, to their credit, they embraced a bottom up cultural shift in the 80s when they recognized that building substandard crap would never fly in the new age dawning. No they don't leak.

Nationalism plays a huge role in the Harley core demographic but I am not sure for how long. What's funny, by contrast, Japan has moved almost all of it's production off-shore.

It's kind of ironic that Chinese motorcycles are made and assembled and sold in the UK