Bajaj vs Royal Enfield – this is a battle that the Pune based maker has never won but can smaller wins like these count? Here is an interesting story…
With a massive interest in the set of buyers that align to its genre, Royal Enfield has a big lead in the 350cc segment as well as the 500-800cc segment. In the space between this – the 351-500cc segment, it has its Himalayan, that has now been upgraded to a bigger 450cc mill.
Till last year, other motorcycles in this segment included the 390 KTMs (Duke, RC and Adventure), Kawasaki Ninja 400 and the Bajaj Dominar 400. Even with all the motorcycles combined (KTMs plus Bajajs), Bajaj was not even half of Royal Enfield’s lone offering Himalayan during this this period of the last financial year ie from April to December 2022. Here are the actual numbers
Bajaj vs Royal Enfield – 351-500cc Sales Apr-Dec 2022-23
| All Bajajs & KTMs Combined | 11,419 units |
| Royal Enfield Himalayan | 29,135 units |
| Honda CB500 | 6 units |
| Kawasaki Ninja 400 | 205 units |
Other niche makers like Honda chipped in with a handful of CB500s and a few units were sold by Kawasaki as well.
That was before Bajaj introduced the Triumph 400cc twins. Here are the numbers for this financial year from April to December 2023-24.
Bajaj vs Royal Enfield – 351-500cc Sales Apr-Dec 2023-24
| All Bajajs & KTMs Combined | 31,660 units |
| Royal Enfield Himalayan | 29,249 units |
| Honda CB500 | 0 units |
| Kawasaki Ninja 400 | 260 units |
| Harley X440 | 6862 units |
As you can see, tables have been turned and Bajaj has beaten Royal Enfield by registering a phenomenal growth by almost tripling its sales! The Himalayan has remained flat and the Ninja 400 also added about 55 units to its tally.
Eagle eyed would have also noticed the entry of Harley Davidson in this space. Hero MotoCorp, which is making and selling the X440 registered 6862 units and I am sure if we give it a full year, these numbers will be much higher than this.
But before anybody gets excited, it must be noted that this classification is based on how SIAM does it and shares sales info. In actuality Bajaj (together with Triumphs) is after Royal Enfield which has almost all its concentration in the 250-350cc space. And if you want to know how many units the Chennai based maker added during the same period in the sub 350cc segment, here are they – a phenomenal 5.77 Lac units!
Royal Enfield Makes Most Beautiful Motorcycles, Admits Rajiv Bajaj
Which means that Bajaj (and anybody else) has to toil a lot harder if it has to come anywhere close to the might of the classic motorcycle maker from Chennai.
But there definitely is another interesting point to ponder over – the Himalayan’s sales. With the new 450, Royal Enfield has completely skimmed the Rs 2 lakh segment and it now plays in the sub Rs 3 Lakh segment – which definitely will have lesser takers. This is what I have discussed here…
What do you think – could this be called a moral victory for Bajaj (and other makers) which has been trying to knock Royal Enfield’s castle down for a long time now…?
