Earlier this year, it was reported that Royal Enfield, India’s oldest motorcycle manufacturing company is looking for a multi fuel variant of motorcycle, but according to business standard news it seems that the company may launch a diesel variants of motorcycle.
The project of bringing diesel variants in India is running at full swing. Beside this the company is also working on a project to launch 750cc and 1,000 cc variants. The company pioneers in launching diesel variants of motorcycle in India. The company first launched a diesel variant of motorcycle in the late 1990s. The Company recently launched two new variants – Classic Chrome and Desert Storm.
According to Venkatesh Padmanabhan, chief executive, “It makes sense for us to move into that (750cc, twin cylinder bikes) category. So many bike companies have been entering India and competition has just begun. However, things are at a very early stage, as neither the volumes from that segment or the commercials seem encouraging.”
Royal Enfield does not have any competitor in India. It operates in a very niche segment. Currently, the company has production capacity of 75,000 units per annum which is far behind than the demand. Some of it models have waiting period of 12 months in areas like Mumbai. The company is planning to double its capacity to 1,50,000 units by the first quarter of 2013.
