HD X440: born to succeed?

The HD X440 has not entered production yet, but the numbers are looking incredibly good: it has already collected more than 25.000 pre-orders. Is the 300/400cc category already in Harley-Davidson’s hands?

The motorcycle

Available in three different versions: the S, the Denim and the Vivid (the less equipped and most accessible of the three), this motorcycle -as we already said a couple of times before – is entirely produced by Hero, which is one of the biggest producer of two-wheeled vehicles in the world and market leader in India with 371.204 vehicles sold in July 2023. The Milwaukee and Indian companies signed a deal for the production and the sale of the HD X440; deal that definitely started with a good foot: in a press communicate, Hero & Harley Davidson eagerly announced that the HD x440 in its pre-order window (that closed on August the 3rd) registered 25.596 pre-orders, 65% of which are the “S” model, which makes everyone believe that the market is happy to spend a bit more when it comes to premium models.

HD X440 competition

The sales figures of the Indian market are simply huge: a country that has more that 1 million citizens and that has a humungous mobility demand, can only be a bag full of opportunities for motorcycle companies – competition is high though. If we solely focus on the 350cc segment, the Royal Enfield holds the crown  with just the Classic 350 model which has sold more than 27.000 units in July 2023 alone. To this figures we need to ass the 16.000 units of the Royal Enfield Hunter 350, the Bullet, the Meteor and the Electra collectively. If we zoom out the 300cc and expand our horizon to the 400cc, there also are the Royal Enfield Himalayan and the Scram 411. Needless to say that Royal Enfield is the company to beat for the crown.

Hero MotoCorp is satisfied with how things are going. Niranjan Gupta, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hero MotoCorp, stated: ” We are satisfied of the market answer to the HD X440. It is really encouraging to see the trust that enthusiasts of this segment showed toward Hero MotoCorp. Plus, what is most encouraging is that most of or pre-orders are for the high-end model, which clearly indicates enthusiasts are willing to spend a bit more for the right brand and the right motorcycle model. This is just the beginning of our quest to get on top of the premium segment. There will be other unveils that will allow us to place our self in other segments.”

Was he referring to the new Nightster 440 model?  He might have. I am very curious to see what will come out of their factory in the next months.