business

Updated: Dec 02, 2014 00:21 IST

Legendary British superbike maker Triumph on Monday said it would reach out to each of the near-100 customers of its roadster, Street Triple, after facing a backlash for exaggerating the power output of the bike in India by over 25%.

The company had said the Street Triple produces 106 PS power, but this is the European variant. Last month it updated the figures for the Indian version at 79 PS, setting off howls of protest from buyers.

Last Friday, Triumph issued a formal clarification, and promised to redress their grievances.

"It is an error of communication and we should not have used the EU specifications on our website," Vimal Sumbly, managing director, Triumph Motorcycles India told Hindustan Times. "We are doing our best to reach out to each of our Street Triple customers. We will try and understand their grievances and take care of each of the issues. We have been transparent in our approach and Triumph is the only super bike company that gives out detailed specifications of its bikes in India."

Triumph entered India last year, and has 12 bikes in the country, seven of them assembled here. The 650-cc Street Triple was launched in November 2013 and costs `7.65 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The engine of the Street Triple is tuned differently for India, Brazil and Japan with a lower power output. The other bikes too have nominal power variations, but the company blamed this on different testing methods and the poor fuel quality.

Triumph said on its Facebook page that the Street Triple sold in India has always been the 85PS variant, and that it understood it has created some confusion with customers. "We request our customers to kindly allow us some time to review and revert on the same," it said.

Customers have been unforgiving. "I tested the (Kawasaki) Z800 also before deciding in favour of the Street Triple. You guys think that if you had told us then that it was 79 PS we would have even test ridden it?" Ronny Sequeira, one of the owners, wrote on the company's Facebook page. "Instead of being downright cheap and slimy do the right thing and issue an apology followed by a deadline by which you (will) rectify this issue… we still love our Street Triple, but please don't treat us as ignorant Indians."

