On this interesting question of Hunter vs Classic 350 sales, CEO of Royal Enfield responds. Will new rivals further dent its numbers…?
If you are a regular at BikeAdvice you would have read our story on how Classic 350 has seen a drop in six months out of the last seven. In the same article, we have also listed Hunter’s numbers that could be the reason why the large selling Classic may have seen continuous plunging numbers.
In a recent interview to a portal, B Govindarajan, CEO of Royal Enfield has talked about both these motorcycle models. He defines the difference between the audience of both the Classic and the Hunter. According to him, salaried individuals are the primary buyers of the Classic whereas the Hunter is targeted, predominantly, at college goers whose fathers pay for their motorcycles.
He elaborates that income, in general, has been under pressure as discretionary spends have dropped and that is the main reason of Classic 350’s sales going down – and not Hunter. He is hopeful that as soon as the market opens up, Classic’s buyer will return and its sales will start going north.
So essentially, Govindarajan has almost given a clean chit to the Hunter and dismissed any significant cannibalization between these two models and if we look at the bigger picture, incremental portfolio sales have improved by a fairly good margin and that simply means that it is not worrying for the company. But yes, when your largest seller goes down – a model that has been a hot favorite for a long time, a lot is talked about it – and specially for a model that has defied all odds that go against it.
But if we move out of Royal Enfield’s portfolio, there is more competition brewing up – in the form of two international biggies – Triumph and Harley Davidson. These two giants have partnered with Indian makers for cost effectiveness and their first products have been received very well. How will all of this impact the Classic 350 in the longer run will be something we are carefully looking at. Why are we talking about Classic 350 – simply because it is the benchmark to level upto in this segment!
‘It Will Not be Easy for Robbers to Penetrate’, Siddharth Lal Responds to Rajiv Bajaj
In case you are interested in knowing how good is the Triumph Speed 400, watch its review below..
