The past week has been abuzz with frequent mentions of BMW and TVS Motor Company forging an alliance. On Sunday Mr. Srinivasan has confirmed to liveMint that his company is in talks with BMW and on Monday he confirmed to WSJ that more details will be shared soon.
The Hindu Business Line, the first to report on the talks between the companies, had said its sources indicate the partnership will be a technological alliance. TVS shares were up after the news started floating around.
General opinion is that TVS would do well to tie up with BMW and acquire expertise on making high end motorcycles, since Bajaj has KTM and Hero MotoCorp has Erik Buell Racing (stating the facts loosely). We aren’t entirely sure. While we aren’t oblivious to the fact that BMW could bring in a wealth of knowledge and expertise in making bikes that go round the world without breaking sweat or one up the Japanese in building a litre class monster, is R&D the handicap that has had TVS Motors lose its position to Honda in the two wheeler domestic market? Or is it the unwillingness to experiment?