(Adds particulars of pricing, background and shares paragraph 2 onwards)

BENGALURU, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp on Wednesday raised costs of the brand new Indian Harley-Davidson motorbike by 10,500 rupees ($127.45) days after the Harley chief government stated pre-orders of the brand new mannequin exceeded the corporate’s expectations.

The Harley-Davidson X440 will likely be priced at 239,500 rupees ($2,905.06) and above, with the hike relevant for all its variants, Hero stated in a press release. Deliveries are anticipated to start by October.

Harley partnered with Hero, the world’s largest motorbike maker, to develop and promote a variety of its personal branded bikes in India, beginning with the X440 after exiting and shuttering most of its seller community in 2020 within the nation.

Harley entered the area with its British rival Triumph final month and unveiled their least expensive fashions in India, the biggest motorbike market by gross sales, to faucet into increased spending in premium segments throughout classes.

Triumph, which has partnered with Bajaj Auto in its India enterprise, had final month stated that the beginning worth of its Speed 400 motorbike could be 223,000 rupees for its first 10,000 prospects after which raised to 233,000 rupees.

Triumph had crossed greater than 14,000 in bookings final month, whereas Hero or Harley didn’t disclose their reserving numbers.

“We’ve been extremely pleased with the reception that the X440 has received since launch, with pre-orders exceeding initial expectations from launch,” Harley-Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz had stated on an earnings name final week.

Hero shares had been down as a lot as 2.6% in morning commerce on Wednesday, whereas the U.S.-listed Harley-Davidson shares closed 0.2% decrease on Tuesday.

($1 = 82.4425 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)