Enfield is back on quieter bikes
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The “thump” is gone, but sales are booming. Royal Enfield, a 119-year-old Anglo-Indian motorcycle maker with a cult following, has brought its distinctive bikes into the modern era with new and quieter engines but can’t make them fast enough to meet demand.
The once sleepy company sold 74,600 motorcycles in 2011, a 40 per cent increase, all made at its 57-year-old factory in Chennai, and is spending $30 million this fiscal ye-ar in a push to double capacity and upgrade ma-nufacturing technology.
For now, customers must wait six to nine months to get their bikes.
“Paradoxically, the more we make the more we appear to be falling behind. Only when the new plant kicks in the next year, we will be able to fully address the waiting periods,” Mr Venki Padmanabhan, chief executive officer of Royal Enfield Motors, said.
A new engine has repl-aced Royal Enfield’s antiquated cast iron engine, boosting acceleration, pe-rformance, mileage and reliability, and reducing emissions.
The company is best known for the powerful Bullet model, but it is the newer Classic series that is driving growth in a crowded and fast-expanding Indian market where 10 million motorbikes were sold last year.
“They’ve finally got the markings, the logo and the colour schemes perfect,” said 35-year-old George Koshy, who works in an advertising firm and owns four Royal Enfield bikes, including a Classic 500.
Royal Enfield’s motorcycles start at Rs1,08,000 rupees in Mumbai and rise to Rs1,75,000, against Rs72,000 for a 220 cc Bajaj Avenger, a similarly powerful bike also marketed towards enthusiasts.
Harley Davidson, whose bikes start at Rs5,60,000, is part of a slew of overseas manufacturers such as Britain’s Triumph and Japan’s Kawasaki that is ramping up activity in India to capture a growing premium motorbike market.
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