Harley Davidson India ropes in Suzuki's Rajasekharan as MD

Iconic American bike maker Harley Davidson Monday said it has appointed Sajeev Rajasekharan as the managing director of its India unit.

Rajasekharan, who comes from Suzuki Motorcycle India where he was executive vice-president for sales and marketing from July 2016, will be based in Gurgaon where the company is headquartered. The appointment is effective October 10.

In this new role, Rajasekharan will manage Harley- Davidson India's leadership team and will be responsible for in-country sales, dealer network management, marketing, service and operations activities to expand the company's presence in the country, the company said in a statement.

He comes with over two decades of experience in marketing, sales and operations. Prior to Suzuki India he has worked with multiple consumer durable companies including Panasonic, Electrolux, Samsung India, Thomson India, Onida and Blow Plast.

Nigel Keough, general manager for emerging markets at Harley-Davidson, said "Sajeev brings with him years of experience across customer-focused industries and we are positive that his expertise will be valuable as we build the next generation of Harley-Davidson riders in India." Harley-Davidson Motor Company, set up in 1903 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the US, entered India in 2009 and appointed the first dealer in August 2010. Today it sells over a dozen models here now including the Sportster, Dyna, Softail, V-Rod, Touring and the Street.

The company has dealerships across New Delhi, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Indore, Pune, Goa, Guwahati and Jaipur.

In 2011, it also set up an assembly unit at Bawal, Haryana with the Sportster line followed by the assembly of the Dyna line in 2012 and Softail line in 2013.

The Bawal unit is the only manufacturing facility outside of the US.

While the Street is jointly manufactured at Harley- Davidson's US and India plants, the Street 750 is also exported to Europe and Asia markets from India.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)