The U.S. is Royal Enfield's largest export market, at about 600 motorcycles, The Times of India reports.
It quotes Siddhartha Lal, chief of Eicher Motors Ltd., parent company of Royal Enfield in India.
The article states that Royal Enfield exported 3,500 motorcycles out of a total combined sales of 113,000 last fiscal year. Obviously, the company would like to increase overseas sales.
"We have absolutely tremendous global ambitions Lal says in the accompanying Times of India video.
A note to Americans watching the video: "Lakh" is a common term for 100,000 in India.
"With our new plant in Oragadam near Chennai we have the possibility of scaling up our total production to 500,000 units a year, so we have no dearth of capacity," Lal is quoted in The Times article.
He said the company would even consider local production if a market such as Brazil required it.
"There are interesting mid-size motorcycle markets in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America — countries which are a bit like India," he said.
His comments suggest that he's thinking of growth in places Royal Enfield's 500cc Bullets would serve well, not the expressway strewn North America and European markets.
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I knew that they were rare here, but I had no idea there were only about 600 sold each year!
ReplyDeleteMy impression is that the figure has actually grown to reach this level. Given the economic headwinds affecting motorcycle sales in the U.S. in the last few years, this may represent a significant success.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe1wtkkt9-E
ReplyDeleteenfield in music video^
ReplyDeleteThat's Mariah Carey's new music video. My item on it is here.
ReplyDeleteI just noticed the text near the end of the video that says "no plans to enter the commuter market". How ironic, then! The commuter market in India is significantly different that the market here... commuting is exactly what I bought my RE for. I was just thinking, on the way home from work yesterday, how pleased I am with the bike's performance on my Interstate Highway commute. All I need is one of those 6.5 gallon gas tanks from India so that I only have to fuel up once per week.
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