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| Eicher Motors is Royal Enfield's parent corporation. |
It's a familiar story, how Royal Enfield was saved by a young and visionary Siddhartha Lal. Not long out of school, the young man took on the challenge of pulling the motorcycle maker out of its doldrums and, eventually, raising it to become a successful international enterprise.
It's a cliché, but I guess you could say he was born to do it.
Siddhartha's father Vikram Lal was leader of Royal Enfield's corporate parent, Eicher Motors.
Vikram's father, Man Mohan Lal, had founded a business called Goodearth in 1948, to import and sell tractors in India. In 1958 it joined with a German firm, named Eicher, to manufacture tractors, eventually achieving full India content.
Today, India's Eicher Motors makes commercial vehicles. But it is best known to consumers for the remarkable success of its Royal Enfield motorcycles
Royal Enfield began making motorcycles in 1901 in Redditch, England. In 1955 the British company and Madras Motors, of India, created Enfield India. Enfield India would assemble and eventually entirely produce the Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle in India.
Royal Enfield went out of business in the UK in 1970, but Enfield India production of the Bullet, still largely in its 1955 form, continued.
Eicher gradually acquired the Enfield India business in the early 1990s, by which time the original 1955 Bullet was severely outmoded.
Although something of a cult product in India, and appreciated by fans of vintage motorcycles, its survival was hardly likely.
We have the generations of Lals to thank for taking over and continuing production of the Royal Enfields we ride today.
Eicher and the Lal family have a bigger story, however.
I recently came across a short article in India's Financial Express that briefly touches on Siddhartha, Vickram, Vickram's wife Anita, and their daughter Simran. It's a story of a family's enterprise, creativity and philanthropy.
You'll find an even more complete version of Eicher's history in this article on the Forbes India website.
On Eicher's own own website is a list of its corporate landmarks. Here are some of highlights:
1948 Goodearth Company set up to sell and service imported tractors.
1952-'57 Goodearth Company imported and sold about 1,500 tractors in India.
1958 Eicher Tractor Corporation of India Ltd. incorporated.
1959 First indigenous Eicher tractor built.
1965-'75 100 per cent "Indiagenization" achieved in Eicher Tractors.
1980 Eicher Goodearth Ltd. name adopted.
1990 Eicher Goodearth buys 26 per cent equity stake in Enfield India Ltd.
1993 Eicher acquires majority stake in Enfield India (60 per cent equity shareholding).
1994 Enfield India Ltd. changed its name to Royal Enfield Motors Ltd.
2005 Eicher Motors Ltd. has disinvested the businesses of tractors and engines to TAFE Motors & Tractors Ltd.
2013 Royal Enfield opens second manufacturing facility in Oragadam. In September, 2013, Royal Enfield globally launches the Continental GT 535cc café racer in London, UK.
2015 Royal Enfield acquires erstwhile collaborators Harris Performance of the U.K., a motorcycle engineering and design firm, to enhance its engineering and product design capabilities.
2015 Royal Enfield sets up its first direct distribution subsidiary outside India, in North America. Royal Enfield North America is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis.
2016 Royal Enfield debuts its first purpose-built adventure tourer motorcycle, the Himalayan.
2017 Royal Enfield moves into its state-of-the-art Tech Centre at Leicestershire, UK to design and develop new motorcycle platforms for the global market.
2018 Royal Enfield launches its first air-cooled parallel twin cylinder motorcycles in 50 years, the Continental GT 650 and Interceptor INT 650 for the international and domestic market.
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