UM Motorcycle To Revamp Business In India As Sales Hit Zero

UM Motorcycle, a US based company, which began selling motorcycles in India sometime in 2016 and had a peak sales of 11,000 units per annum, has begun the 2019-20 financial year with a duck.

- P. Tharyan

Yes, both production and sales at the Kashipur plant in Uttarakhand state in North India of UM Lohia Two Wheelers, a joint venture between UM Motorcycle and Ayush Lohia controlled Lohia Auto, have come to a halt.

For April and May 2019, the company has neither manufactured nor sold a single motorcycle in the country, according to the sales data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

And to make matters worse, Rajeev Mishra, CEO, UM Lohia Two Wheelers Pvt. Ltd, has quit the company a couple of months back. It is reliably learnt that he has joined a new electric two wheeler project in Andhra Pradesh which will soon be launching electric two wheelers in the country.

Besides, of the 70 odd dealers, more than a handful of UM dealers have shut shop and have left the UM family.

So has the motorcycle company pulled its plug in India? No, the company is relaunching itself with major changes, according to highly placed sources. New products and revamped existing products will be launched in the next four to six months. The changes have been confirmed by Jose Villegas, Global Sales and Marketing Director of UM International. He said that the current situation is a result of “internal misalignment” which is being streamlined.