Royal Enfield developing two new engine platforms

New Delhi: Royal Enfield, the two-wheeler division of Eicher Motors, is developing two new engine platforms on which multiple new products could be launched, a top company official said today. "We are developing two new engine platforms on which multiple products could be launched. The new products would be in the range of 250 cc and 750 cc and we expect to see products introductions starting next year," said Eicher Motors Ltd Managing Director and CEO Siddhartha Lal in a conference call.

Elaborating on the new products, said Lal the company would stick to its core strengths and would not go in for bikes which are "extreme and very sporty". "We would stick to our core proposition the bikes would be for international markets they would be higher performance bikes but not extreme performance bikes," said Lal. With the two new platforms the company is looking at churning out multiple models for at least next decade, he added.

The Chennai-based two-wheeler maker, which currently sells popular bikes like Bullet, Classic, Thunderbird and Continental GT, plans to invest Rs 500 crore this year on R&D, new product development, capacity expansion and setting up of two technology development centres in Chennai and UK said Lal the investment would also go into the phase two of its Oragadam plant in Chennai. "For all these activities we will be investing Rs 500 crore this year," he added.

Commenting on the capacity expansion, said Lal that the number would go up from 30,000 units a month last year to 50,000 units a month by this year-end. "We will continue to make higher investments into brand, distribution and globally relevant products that will be essential for us to achieve global leadership in the mid-size motorcycle category," he added.

Lal said the first quarter has been the best ever quarter for the Royal Enfield with record sales of 92,845 units, a growth of 44.5 per cent over first quarter of 2014. It exported 2,342 units in first quarter, a growth of 62 per cent, over the same period of previous year. Commenting on the VECV business, the 50:50 joint venture with Volvo Group, said Lal a capex of Rs 600 crore has been earmarked for a two year period - 2014 and 2015.