Although Covid-19 has led to disruptions of operations at many levels, Royal Enfield is still confident to launch multiple new models in FY2022
Despite the advent of many brands in the middleweight classic roadster segment in India, Royal Enfield remains the undisputed leader in this space. This has not only got to do with its massive consumer base across the country but also its sizeable production capacity, retail and service network and reliable supply chain management.
However, the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted operations at every level. Despite the ongoing crisis of the pandemic, Royal Enfield is confident of making FY2021-22 an eventful fiscal year with numerous new model launches. In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Royal Enfield CEO, Vinod Dasari, shed some light on the company’s upcoming launches.
Production Affected due to Covid-19
Despite the disruptions, Dasari announced that the company has planned some very big launches for the current financial year. He further added that even if the company does not receive any new bookings, it has enough backlog orders to clear which will keep the assembly line moving for at least the next 2-3 months.
Due to the outbreak of the second wave of novel coronavirus, production has been halved although full-scale production is expected to resume in the coming few days. Late last year, the Chennai-based bikemaker announced that henceforth it will be launching as many four models (new and upgraded) every year which meant one new launch every quarter.
Despite all constraints, the company intends to stick to this claim, however, Dasari admitted that the launch timeline of the products might be deferred by about a month. In Dasari’s own words, “This year will probably see the highest number of new models that are ever seen from Royal Enfield in a year”.
Future RE models
Since November last year, Royal Enfield has launched one brand new model in the form of Meteor 350 and updated three others including Himalayan, Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650. The brand’s next big-ticket launch is expected to be the new-gen Classic 350 which will be based on the J architecture as Meteor. Along with this, the company has planned a couple of 650cc models including a cruiser and a classic roadster.
The manufacturer is also reportedly developing a new scrambler based on the same 650cc parallel-twin chassis. The company recently filed a trademark for the same called ‘Scram’.
Another crucial new model slated to launch in the coming few months is the new roadster which goes by the name ‘Hunter’ and is expected to take on Honda CB350 H’Ness. According to Dasari, all these models are ready to be launched as they have already been in development for 3-5 years.
SOURCE
Source: Bike - rushlane.com
