Knowledge
Royal En field has hit a sweet spot in the market with its affordable mid-range motorcy cl esB.ut what does the future hold for the company?
Royal Enfield has taken a global lead in the middleweight category ...with exciting plans for the future.
With a long and illustrious British history, and in more recent times a revival powered by the manufacturing might of India, Royal Enfield has established itself as one of the main players in mid-size motorcycles globally.
During the lockdown there was no chance to talk to the people from the factory in person, let alone visit their sites in Chennai, India, or even in Bruntingthorpe, UK, where their UK tech centre is. But thanks to video conferencing (which, I bet has become the closest thing to seeing loved ones for many), we were able to talk to Simon Warburton, Head of Product Development, Mark Wells, Head of Global Product Strategy & Industrial Design, and Arun Gopal, Head of Business Markets EMEA, to gain an insight into what's happening with this intriguing brand.
Given that over 70% of Enfield's sales in Europe consist of the 400cc single Himalayan and 650cc twins Continental GT and Interceptor, it's easy to understand that the production of the 500cc singles will be ceased after this year. That means no more Bullets or Classics, but what will replace them in the line-up? Something else based on the 650 twin platform, something bigger along the lines of last year's KX concept bike, an 838cc V-twin inspired by its namesake 1930s 1140cc predecessor?
Understandably, the men from RE were tight-lipped about what will be launched next, but they did say a few things that may give an indication of what's to come.
"We work with an ongoing multi-year project plan with a clear idea of potential new models;' said Mark Wells. "Ideas for new motorcycles can come from anywhere in the company, or even outside of the company, from customers and media:'
Royal Enfield is in a great position in the market as the mid-size motorcycles seem to be underrepresented on a global scale, and that's where they are so strong. They also have the advantage of volume sales with a strong home market, which enables them to keep costs to the customer lower than much of the competition. When you add to the Indian sales the global figures, that's a lot of motorcycles. But with global demands comes the need to create a product that serves all markets:
''All Royal Enfield bikes are designed with a global audience in mind. The same bike must work when riding slow on the poor-quality roads in India, and when riding faster on the roads of the western markets;' commented Arun Gopal.
So we can expect to see plenty more mid-range bikes from RE in the future, but what about the push towards electric bikes?
Mark Wells admitted that this is very much something that RE is looking into. "We are currently looking into how we can make electric motorcycles work for Royal Enfield. The move towards electric bikes is inevitable, but we don't want to rush there
- we want to make sure we do the right thing from the start. Rather than abandoning internal combustion engines completely in favour of electric, I would imagine that there will be a period of co-existence while the consumer habits and legislation adapt to the new situation:'
Looking further into the future, Simon Warburton pointed out a potential problem. "Legislation may well be a problem for individual ownership of vehicles including motorcycles. The thinking seems to be that in future people will take public transport into towns and then jump on electric scooters to go around town:'
Hopefully that motorcycling dystopia is just a worst case scenario ... What we do know is that before that becomes an issue we can expect to see plenty of new bikes, both petrol and electric, from Royal Enfield.