Royal Enfield Motorcycles to increase production and launch Thunderbird 500 and Cafe Racer 500 in India

Royal Enfield has announced that their new Thunderbird 500 will be launched during May-June 2012. The motorcycle which enthused audience at the Delhi Auto Show in January this year is about to make its grand entry and will be powered by a UCE500 engine with fuel injected twin spark 500cc offering 27.2 Bhp power and 41.3 Nm of torque. Its engine will have a five speed gearbox with maintenance free hydraulic tappets. All this will come at a price of Rs.2 lakhs. Fitted with a projector headlamp, rear disc brake, 20 liter fuel tank and a flatter handle bar it will make an ideal bike for cross country travel.

Cafe Racer 500 is expected by early 2013 and was also on display at the Delhi Auto Show 2012 and from the number of inquiries it looks like biking enthusiasts just cannot wait for official launch. Production should be up 90,000 units per annum by end of this year while monthly production should be at 8,500 from their present 7,000 units per month.

Royal Enfield has also plans in place to increase production at their plant based in Chennai unit at Oragadam. Present production capacity of 80,000 will increase to 1.8 lakhs which will bring down waiting periods drastically. One only hopes that the company concentrates equally on quality as they are on quantity.