Royal Enfield (India)

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Royal Enfield is an Indian motorcycle manufacturing brand with the tag of "the oldest global motorcycle brand in continuous production" manufactured in factories in Chennai in India. Licensed from Royal Enfield by the indigenous Indian Madras Motors, it is now a subsidiary of Eicher Motors Limited, an Indian automaker. The company makes the Royal Enfield Bullet, and other single-cylinder motorcycles. First produced in 1901, Royal Enfield is the oldest motorcycle brand in the world still in production, with the Bullet model enjoying the longest motorcycle production run of all time.

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History

The Indian government looked for a suitable motorcycle for its police and army, for patrolling the country's border. The Royal Enfield Bullet was chosen as the most suitable bike for the job. The government ordered 800 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. By 1962, all 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.

In 1990, Royal Enfield collaborated with the Eicher Group, an automotive company in India, and merged with it in 1994. Apart from bikes, Eicher Group is involved in the production and sales of tractors, commercial vehicles, and automotive gears. Although Royal Enfield experienced difficulties in the 1990s, and ceased motorcycle production at their Jaipur factory in 2002, by 2013 the company opened a new primary factory in the Chennai suburb of Oragadam on the strength of increased demand for its motorcycles. The original factory at Tiruvottiyur became secondary, and continues to produce engines and some motorcycle models. In 2014 Royal Enfield appointed Pierre Terblanche as the head of new product design.

In January 2015, the company announced the appointment of Rudratej 'Rudy' Singh as President of Royal Enfield. Singh was previously a Vice President of Unilever in Singapore. 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, that had previously developed the chassis of the Royal Enfield Continental GT Cafe Racer.

Royal Enfield currently sells motorcycles in more than 50 countries. Royal Enfield surpassed Harley-Davidson in global sales in 2015.

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 underserved 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. The company wants to establish about 100 dealerships in American cities starting with Milwaukee.

"I live here, so I am biased. But in my mind, Milwaukee is kind of the center of motorcycling in the United States," said Copes, a former Harley-Davidson executive. "We view this as kind of our first flagship dealership," he added.

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. From April to September, 2015, Royal Enfield's domestic sales were 50% higher than the previous year, despite a declining motorcycle market in India.

In 2017, Royal Enfield added new variants of the Classic 350 and 500 motorcycles. While the Royal Enfield Classic 350 gets Gun Grey as a new color option, the Classic 500 will now come in Stealth Black colour. Royal Enfield has unveiled the 650 cc twin-cylinder engine at the Technology Centre in Leicestershire, England, on November 2017. This will power the next generation of Royal Enfield motorcycles. Royal Enfield is going to showcase this at the EICMA (Milan Motorcycle Show), starting from November 7 in Italy.

Maps Royal Enfield (India)

Manufacturing Plants

Thiruvottiyur, Chennai
Oragadam, Chennai
Sipcot Industrial Park, Vallam Vadagal, Chennai

Royal Enfield Says Its Bikes Are Expensive & May Be Higher On ...

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2015 Floods

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. Production resumed at 50% capacity on 7 December and operations at both plants were back to normal on 14 December.

2017 Royal Enfield Classic Battle Green spotted arriving at dealership

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References

Royal Enfield : Riders on the Storm (OOTD) - Kalapalette

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Source of the article : Wikipedia

Royal Enfield (India)

Kamis, 24 Mei 2018