India likely to be production hub for Husqvarna Motorcycles.

Husqvarna Motorcycles, the European brand known for its dirtbikes, will likely use India as a production hub for on-road motorcycles. Its parent, Austrian KTM-Sportmotorcycle, is working on plans to develop such bikes for the global markets with partner Bajaj Auto at Chakan near Pune.

KTM plans to initially source engines and components from India and assemble bikes at its facility in Austria for sale in Europe and the US starting 2017. Products would then be rolled out in emerging markets, including India. Production too could subsequently happen in India.

'The focus was previously on off-roaders. Now we are developing on-road models which are partly based on the engine platforms we are doing together with Bajaj,' KTM chief executive Stefan Pierer told ET in an interview. 'In model year 2017, we will launch the first models in Europe and then in the US. We are looking at how it works and then rolling out globally, coming basically back to India.'

ET