New high-end bikes to hit roads by Dec.

New range of high-end bikes are expected to hit Indian roads by the end of this year from the stable of Royal Enfield with the commissioning of its second production facility in Oragadam, near Chennai.

“Apart from the regular models of Desert storm, Thunderbird, bullet etc, we will also be introducing the 525cc ContinentalGT by year-end,” said Eicher Motors managing director and CEO Siddhartha Lal commissioning the new plant.

The premium motorcycle maker rolled out its first bike from its `150crore second manufacturing facility spread on a 50-acre land on Tuesday.

Stating that the plant would initially produce 1.50 lakh motorcycles, he said the capacity will be ramped up to 1.75 lakh motorcycles towards the end of this year.

Royal Enfield, a part of Eicher Motors Ltd, currently retails Bullet, Classic and Thunderbird models equipped with 350 cc and 500 cc displacements.

Terming this facility’s inauguration as a “nucleus of our global ambitions”, in second phase, the company plans to produce 2.50 lakh motorcycles in 2014, Mr Lal said, adding that it produced 1.13 lakh units last year.

Asked if the new plant could bring down the long waiting periods for Enfield bikes, he said “If the demand continues at the current level, the company can bring down the waiting period to 6-7 months but we have been registering a good demand growth.”

For now, waiting period for Enfield bikes vary from 8-10 months depending on the model.