Royal Enfield 2.0 to Fight the Next Battle

Royal Enfield 2.0 strategy to make the company ready for the next phase of growth…

Royal Enfield has had a terrific time out there in the market. They have enjoyed the laurels and there seemed nothing affected them. Their order books were always full, so much so that they could not produce as many motorcycles. Even during the infamous Demonetisation months, it was Royal Enfield which was the least affected.

However, of late the market has seen a significant shift in buyer preference. Despite the addition of new models, Royal Enfield ended the last financial year at almost no gain. This is worrying for a maker who is accustomed to big numbers in sales every year. More alarming has been the trend in the last six odd months where Royal Enfield has seen a consistent decline in Month on Month sales – yes six consecutive months of decline!

Siddhartha Lal, who has steered the company to new heights, has been the CEO and MD of Royal Enfield so far. But he has understood that the tide is against them. So, they have formed Royal Enfield 2.0 – a new strategy to battle the draught and to make the company ready for the next phase.

Himalayan’s terrible QC has definitely dented Royal Enfield’s image.

The first change is right up there at the top with Vinod Dasari joining in as a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the brand – a position which was, so far held by Siddhartha Lal himself. Mr Dasari has been a well known face in the automotive industry and he was the head at Ashok Leyland for about 14 years before joining RE.

Accepting the slide in momentum, Siddhartha Lal said

So there is a new CEO and there is a shift in business in some form where the enormous growth trajectory we have gone through has tapered off a bit. So it’s an opportune time to be able to look at Royal Enfield 2.0 and how we are going to take it forward. There are lots of things we are working on,

According to a word on Money Control, Siddhartha added that Vinod will run the company and he (Sid) would only support him in ‘few specialised areas of product brand where he has less experience‘.

Among all the motorcycle makers, it is believed that it will be a little more challenging for Royal Enfield to upgrade their products to the upcoming Bharat Stage VI regulations considering that they mostly rely on traditional technology for their bikes. However, it appears that they have already started testing the new range of motorcycles based on the spy pics that have surfaced (here).

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RE has been trying out new motorcycles but they will have to be different.

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It is good that RE has smelt the coffee and realised that competition in the form of Jawa, Benelli, Bajaj and others is right under their throat. Add to that the relative ageing in the motorcycles on which they have depended so far for most of their sales. So, Royal Enfield 2.0 strategy is to bolster their product lineup and make the brand ready for what lies ahead…

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What changes, according to you, should Royal Enfield incorporate to bolster their sales again or do you think the ‘Good Times’ are over for the brand…?