MUMBAI: The economic slowdown will not impact the performance of KTM 790 Duke, Bajaj Auto Ltd senior manager (probiking) Vikas Iyer told Indiantelevision.com just after the launch of the superbike in nine cities-Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Guwahati.

He said that there are only around 2 lakh superbikes in the country right now, and the riders of those are actively willing to level up. However, the brand is providing easy ownership options to the buyers through the tie-up with Bajaj Auto Finance Ltd, keeping in mind the impact the current economy might be having on the budgets of enthusiasts. “Going ahead, we are going to have a lot of our dealerships tying up with local financial service providers as well,” Iyer revealed.

Iyer shared that the brand will be focusing highly on digital and on-ground activation activities for the select consumer base they are planning to target. He mentioned that the brand doesn’t spend much on marketing, but the budgets are equally divided between digital and on-ground activities.

“In three months, we will be starting off with super rides and super track dates, which are to give the customers first-hand great riding experience on roads, highways, and on tracks. We are planning to give the riders an in-depth track race sort of experience to make them understand what the 790 Duke is capable of doing. It is going to be a sort of mentoring session,” Iyer said.

Iyer also shared that that brand has just started off with its influencer marketing activities as well to target the biking enthusiasts on social media.

“We are interacting with influencers who are helping us create a lot of content. In fact, it (superbiking) is a space where they also are trying to venture (in a bigger, better way), and we are trying to figure out what we could do together; how we can make fans out there, better bikers,” he quipped.

The KTM 790 Duke was launched in Mumbai on Monday. Also present at the launch was Bajaj Auto Ltd president (probiking) Sumeet Narang who indicated that the brand will soon be launching a few more products in the 200-390 cc section in the coming months.

He also hinted towards the development of select products for the biking enthusiasts in the adventure tourism space, which might be launched in the coming 12 months in India.