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The iconic Indian motorcycle maker, Royal Enfield is consistently seeing a growing demand of its motorcycles and in response to such an overwhelming demand, the company plans to ramp up its production capacity to make up for the increase in demand and reduce the waiting periods. And that is not all from the company’s side. It also plans to expand its dealership and service network to many locations all over India to increase the brand presence in the country.
“We have added new dealers in poorly represented markets as most of our customers have to drive over 100 kms for good service support. Last year, we crossed over 200 dealers across India. All the new dealers are investing heavily in sales and service infrastructure (service bays), and we have set up two repair technician training facilities in Chennai and Chandigarh for equipping the dealer’s staff in servicing the new Bullets sporting our new engine platform (unit construction engine) besides older iron barrel motorcycles. We have also increased our spare parts supply to the market considerably,” Venki Padmanabhan, CEO, Royal Enfield, said.
Originally a British based manufacturer, Royal Enfield is currently a part of the Eicher Motors group and it achieved record monthly sales of 7000 unit sales at the end of the year 2011. Royal Enfield also has plans to increase its current product portfolio by introducing new model to the Indian market. Among the new launches would be the 500cc version of the Royal Enfield Thunderbird that was showcased at the 2012 Delhi Auto Expo. The 500cc Royal Enfield Thunderbird is likely to be launched by the month of May or June this year. Another model, the iconic Cafe Racer is also being planned on being launched in the Indian market by the company very soon, probably in the first quarter of next year. The Royal Enfield Cafe Racer was also showcased at the 2012 Auto Expo.
The Cafe Racer is powered by a 500cc, 4 stroke single cylinder engine that churns out 22 BHP of power at 5400 RPM and is mated to a 5 speed manual gearbox. With a tubular steel chassis underneath, the bike measure 2089mm long, 692mm wide and 1054mm high and has a kerb weight of 187 kgs. It is expected to be launched at a price of Rs. 1.6 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi).
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