Royal Enfield is an Indian multinational motorcycle manufacturing company, headquartered in Chennai. The Royal Enfield brand, including its original English heritage, is the oldest global motorcycle brand in continuous production.[3] The company operates manufacturing plants in Chennai in India.
Bullet with plain "Enfield" tank badgeRoyal Enfield Bullet Electra 350, Pure BlackRoyal Enfield Bullet Electra 350, 2004Royal Enfield Classic 350, 2010 modelLogo used from 1995 to early 2014Royal Enfield Bullet, Lake Rewalsar. 2010
After the Indian Independence Act 1947 the new government looked for a suitable motorcycle for its army to patrol the country's border. In 1952 the Royal Enfield Bullet was chosen as the most suitable bike for the job. In 1954, the government ordered 800 in units of the 350 cc model. In 1955, the Redditch company partnered with Madras Motors in India to form 'Enfield India' to assemble, under licence, the 350 cc Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle in Madras (now called Chennai). The tooling was sold to Enfield India so that they could manufacture components.[7] By 1962, all the components were made in India. The Indian Enfield uses the 1960 engine (with metric bearing sizes), Royal Enfield still makes an essentially similar bike in the 350 cc and 500 cc models, along with several different models for different market segments.[8]
In the year 1990, Royal Enfield collaborated with the Eicher Group, an automotive company in India, and merged with it in 1994.[9] Apart from bikes, Eicher Group is involved in the production and sales of commercial vehicles and automotive gears. Although Royal Enfield experienced difficulties in the 1990s, and ceased motorcycle production at their Jaipur factory in 2002,[10] by 2013 the company opened a new primary factory in the Chennai suburb of Oragadam on the strength of increased demand for its motorcycles. This was followed in 2017 by the inauguration of another new factory of a similar size to the facility at Oragadam (capacity 600,000 vehicles per year) at Vallam Vadagal. The original factory at Tiruvottiyur became secondary, and continues to produce some limited-run motorcycle models.[11][12][13][14]
Flooding, produced by the heaviest rainfall in Chennai in over a century, caused Royal Enfield to cut production by 4,000 motorcycles in November 2015, followed by a shutdown of the plants in Thiruvottiyur and Oragadam on 1 December, as well as the company offices in Chennai.[15] Production resumed at 50% capacity on 7 December and operations at both plants were back to normal on 14 December.[16]
Royal Enfield announced its first takeover of another company in May, 2015 with the purchase of a UK motorcycle design and manufacturing firm, Harris Performance Products,[17][18] that had previously developed the chassis of the Royal Enfield Continental GT Cafe Racer.[19] Harris work with the UK-based part of Royal Enfield's development team, who are based at the UK Technology Centre at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in Leicestershire. The team was established in January 2015, and moved into their new, purpose-built facility in May 2017. By the end of 2019, the team numbered 155 and carries out the full spectrum of design and development activities, from concept generation and clay design to engineering design, prototyping and validation.
Royal Enfield currently sells motorcycles in more than 50 countries. Royal Enfield surpassed Harley-Davidson in global sales in 2015.[20][21]
2014 Continental GT 535
In August 2015, Royal Enfield Motors announced it is establishing its North American headquarters and a dealership in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with the intention to offer three bikes, the Bullet 500, Classic 500 and Continental GT 535 Cafe Racer as they feel this engine size represents an under-served market. The dealership will be Royal Enfield's first company-owned store in the U.S., according to Rod Copes, president of Royal Enfield North America.[22][23] The company wants to establish about 100 dealerships in American cities starting with Milwaukee.
Later in August 2015, parent-business Eicher announced its entry in Indonesia as a part of its global strategy in the mid-sized (250–750 cc) motorcycle segment, initially starting retail operations from a dealership in Jakarta.[24][25] From April to September, 2015, Royal Enfield's domestic sales were 50% higher than the previous year, despite a declining motorcycle market in India.[26]
The Royal Enfield Bullet has the longest and unchanged production run of any motorcycle having remained continuously in production since 1948.[27][28] The Bullet marque is even older and has passed 75 years of continuous production. The Royal Enfield and Bullet names were derived from the British company which had been a subcontractor to the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield, London.[28]
It has been long associated with the Police and Armed forces in India and owning one is considered a privilege by most Indians and continues to remain ever popular in India. Although the Bullet 500 was discontinued due to poor sales, The Next Generation Bullet 350 was launched on September 1st, 2023. It has a retro style and is priced at ₹1.74 lakh (US$2,090) in India. In January 2024 Royal Enfield Bullet 350 was launched in two new colors- Military Silver Black and Military Silver Red.[29]
Royal Enfield Classic 350 and Classic 500 are models of Royal Enfield motorcycles which have been in production since 2009. The Classic series of Royal Enfield motorcycles are inspired by the Royal Enfield G2 350cc Bullet motorcycle, first produced in 1948.[30].It has also been confused often with the Bullet for their similar look in design as the Classic is a modernised version of the original Royal Enfield Bullet.
The Royal Enfield Hunter 350[31][32][33] is a roadster motorcycle launched by Royal Enfield in August 2022[34][35] in India. It is powered by 349cc BS6 engine that produces 20.2 bhp and 27 Nm of torque. The Hunter 350[36] is the most affordable motorcycle under the new J-platform, and the second least expensive bike after Royal Enfield Bullet 350. The motorcycle features a retro-style single-piece seat, a classic round headlamp, a flat handlebar and a sculpted fuel tank. Within a month of launch Hunter 350 becomes the second highest selling Royal Enfield motorcycle.[37]
Shotgun
Royal Enfield Shotgun 650 is a 648cc factory-custom bobber based on the same platform as the new Super Meteor 650. A limited edition Shotgun was launched at the Motoverse 2023.[38] Later on the production version was revealed.[39]
The Royal Enfield Himalayan is an adventure touring motorcycle manufactured by Royal Enfield. It was revealed in February 2015 and launched in early 2016. Pierre Terblanche led the design team during Himalayan's development.[40] A variant of it The SCRAM 411 is also in production .It is specially designed for use on Adventure trails.
Royal Enfield unveiled a 650 cc twin-cylinder engine at their Technology Centre, Harris Performance Products, in Leicestershire, England, in November 2017 to power a new generation of Royal Enfield motorcycles. It was showcased at the Milan Motorcycle Show on 7 November 2017 in Italy,[41] where two motorcycles based on the engine, the Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 were revealed.[42] Both models were introduced to the US market in November 2018 to positive reviews.[43][44] The Interceptor is marketed as the INT650 in the United States where Honda has a trademark on the Interceptor name.[45] During the years 2020–2021, the 650cc twins were the best-selling motorcycles in Great Britain.[46]
The Royal Enfield Continental GT is a Neo-retro Café Racer .The first model to use the name, the Continental GT 250, was produced by the original Royal Enfield in the 1960s UK. The name was revived by the Indian manufacturer in the 2010s with the Continental GT 535 (now discontinued) and Continental GT 650.
Royal Enfield launched a new lineup of cruiser motorcycles on 6 November 2020 named Meteor. It replaced the Thunderbird 350 and 350X series which were discontinued earlier that year. It uses a 349 cc single cylinder engine featuring a single overhead camshaft system (SOHC), and a completely new engine with fewer moving parts than the 346 cc of the Classic 350.[47] It is the first Royal Enfield to offer the Tripper navigation system.[48]
Manufacturing plants
Royal Enfield North America Headquarters in Milwaukee
^Sinha, Vivek (28 September 2002). "Enfield strikes at Lightning, to fly Thunderbird". The Economic Times. TNN. Retrieved 30 October 2015. Manufacturing at the Jaipur plant, which has a capacity to produce 13,000 mobikes, is under suspension and according to the plan it is expected to resume operations as soon as the Chennai plant achieves full capacity utilisation.
^Doval, Pankaj (2 February 2015). "Royal Enfield races past Harley-Davidson in global sales". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 November 2015. Although HD motorcycles sell at a huge premium over their RE kin (HD's most affordable model in India sells for around Rs 5 lakh while RE's most expensive model comes for Rs 2 lakh), what's remarkable is the stunning turnaround by one of the world's oldest motorcycle brands.
^"Royal Enfield one bright spot in gloomy motorcycle market". The Economic Times. PTI. 18 October 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2015. The company's performance is in sharp contrast to the overall segment, which has been reeling under a slowdown with rural sales affected by below normal monsoon in several parts of the country.
Gregson, Jonathan (1997). Bullet up the Grand Trunk Road. London: Sinclair-Stevenson. ISBN9781856196604.
Hartley, Peter (1981). The story of Royal Enfield motor cycles. Cambridge Cambridgeshire: P. Stephens. ISBN9780850594676.
Köster, Dirk W. (16 April 2007). Royal Enfield : une légende vivante (in French). Boulogne-Billancourt: ETAI. ISBN978-2726887073.
Köster, Dirk W. (1 August 2009). Royal Enfield – die Legende lebt (in German) (Lizenzausg. ed.). Münster: Monsenstein & Vannerdat. ISBN978-3938568927.
May, Gordon G. (2005). Royal Enfield : the legend rides on : celebrating 50 years in India (1st ed.). Chennai, India: Royal Enfield. ISBN978-8190312905.
May, Gordon G. (30 November 2008). Overland to India: An 8400 Mile Adventure on a 55-year-old Motorcycle. Rixon Groove. ISBN978-0956116802.
846,000 units (2018)[2]
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