Royal Enfield is planning to go all out and compete with global brands in markets other than India. This will be done by developing bigger engined motorcycles.
One of the most aggressive brands in the two-wheeler arena currently is Royal Enfield. Riding on the growing sales and improving perception of people towards their motorcycles, the Chennai based automaker is planning the next big move. It intends to compete with global heavy weights like Harley-Davidson and the likes in markets other than India.
Having set-up a R&D facility in the UK last year, Royal Enfield made its global ambitions clear. Soon after, the CEO of the company, Mr. Siddharth Lal who’s an avid biker himself shifted to the UK to oversee the product development. The latest news is that the company is working on a motorcycle codenamed ‘P61’ which will be powered by an all-new 600-650cc twin-cylinder engine.
Markets such as North America and Europe are very different from the Indian market. In the former regions, people buy motorcycles for highway riding and not city riding. The current crop of motorcycles that the brand makes aren’t suitable for the cruising speeds in those countries. This has prompted them to develop bigger motors. Royal Enfield is also working on bigger versions of the Classic (codenamed D41) and Thunderbird (codenamed D61).
The interesting thing is that once Royal Enfield develops bigger engines, they will come to India as well and this would satisfy the brand loyalists to no end. The Bullet maker aims to be the world leader in the middle-weight motorcycle category (200-750cc) and it is very much achievable considering how much they are spending on R&D.
Royal Enfield 600cc Bike
– Developing bigger capacity engines
– Aims to become world leader in middle-weight motorcycle segment
– New bike with 600-650cc twin-cylinder engine coming next year
Source – EconomicTimes.com