Royal Enfield Continental GT is a proud throwback

On hallowed ground: Royal Enfield Continental GT at Brooklands.

By introducing its Continental GT cafe racer in the United Kingdom, Royal Enfield virtually committed the cliche of "carrying coals to Newcastle."

India's Economic Times faces the issue in an article entitled "Why Royal Enfield's Siddhartha Lal is betting on British market."

"It was an audacious launch," The Economic Times writes, of Eicher Motors CEO Siddhartha Lal's introduction of Royal Enfield's Continental GT at the famed Brooklands race track.

The made-in-India Continental GT is a "nostalgic throwback" to the British-made Continental GT of 1965, The Economic Times writes. For England, the motorcycle is also a reminder that Royal Enfield is "a great brand that it virtually ceded to India..."

Lal innocently suggested to the world's press, gathered for the Sept. 11, 2013 launch, that the new Continental GT is mostly a pleasant and stylish answer to traffic congestion in countries like the UK. And it might be. But the Economic Times sees a bit more:

"Still, there is an unmistakable pride and chutzpah in plying a British brand that was saved by India back to the Britons. But in a century where Indian entities have salvaged Tetley and Jaguar Land Rover, that should hardly come as a surprise.

"In fact, Lal is looking even further afield to America for Continental GT, and the irony of doing that — going up to 500 cc, even as Harley-Davidson is puttering down to 500cc for the Indian market — is not lost on bike aficionados."

But it's all to the good for consumers and, in the end, The Economic Times can not resist this very clever kicker:

"Evidently, there is vroom for everyone."