Royal Enfield is all set to introduce new motorcycle variants soon. The Chennai-based brand has been experiencing weakened sales volumes for the past few months. Hopefully, new products will help the brand regain some volumes.
Royal Enfield’s new CEO, Mr. Vinod Dasari has confirmed that the new products will widen the brand’s offering and provide greater accessibility. This gives clear hints of a more affordable version of the Royal Enfield Bullet. The company may also throw in more colour options, a trick which helped in getting favourable results in case of the Royal Enfield Thunderbird X. This will allow the brand to take on the single-cylinder competition from the Japanese as well as the Indian contingent.
Indian two-wheeler market entered a slowdown just before the festive season last year due to a spike in insurance costs. Royal Enfield sales (domestic as well as exports) dropped by a whopping 19% in the first quarter of FY 2019-20 (April to June 2019). However, domestic volumes shrunk by 22%. July sales in the country stood at 49,182 units which is a drop of 27%. In the same month last year, Royal Enfield sold 67,001 motorcycles.
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The retro-styled motorcycle maker has been testing BS-VI compliant variants of their product line-up off late. However, BS-VI models are still some time away and the new product will continue with BS-IV engine for now. The Royal Enfield Bullet 350, in its present BS-IV version, is powered by a 346 cc air-cooled, single-cylinder mill. Coupled to a 5-speed gearbox, the engine can produce 20 PS of power and 20 Nm of torque. The Royal Enfield Bullet 350 is suspended over conventional 35 mm telescopic fork up front and twin shock absorbers in the rear.
The management is also trying to increase sales by improving customer experience. It is working on building a network of compact retail format outlets called Royal Enfield Studio Stores. These will be focusing on smaller towns and cities in India.
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