Royal Enfield is gearing up to introduce its next generation range of 350 cc models
Royal Enfield seems to have found a new ray of hope as overall sales registered a positive trend. While 1% growth is negligible, the company has a strong reason to have a positive outlook on the future.
Royal Enfield September 2020 sales
The retro classic brand ended September 2020 with overall sales of 60,041 units as against 59,500 units in September 2019. The figure includes both domestic and export volumes. Given that the company has phased out its 500 cc family after the BS6 deadline, its 350 cc family accounts for majority of the sales with a tally of 54,144 units. The Royal Enfield Himalayan, Continental GT 650 and Interceptor GT 650 together managed to clock 5,897 units last month.
For a company which aims to become the global leader of medium displacement motorcycle segment, Royal Enfield’s contribution of export to overall volumes is still very marginal. In September 2020, RE shipped 4,131 units abroad at a YoY decline of 11%. However, the brand’s twin-cylinder flagship models have been having a decent response internationally and once the pandemic-related logistics issues are sorted, the export numbers should steadily go up.
Year-To-Date figures
The YTD figures still paint a bleak picture but that is primarily due to the preceding months when the country was in complete or partial lockdown. During the period between April 2020 to September 2020, Royal Enfield’s overall sales declined by 41% to 207,788 units. Export operations during the same period was halved at 11443.
What’s in store for the future?
As we said, Royal Enfield has a strong reason to look forward to a better future. The company is at the verge of introducing the next generation family of 350 cc models based on the new platform. The product onslaught will be spearheaded by Royal Enfield Meteor 350. Once the initial sales spurt from the new gen 350 models are normalized, the company would be beefing up its premium product portfolio with a 650 cruiser based on KX concept. The test mules are already out in public.
Royal Enfield recently inaugurated its first ever overseas assembly facility in Argentina and is likely to open another one in Thailand in the coming months. With the new facilities in place, the brand is aiming to increase its international presence in key motorcycle markets.
In a related news, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India has just introduced a direct rival to RE’s 350 cc portfolio in the form of H’ness 350 (to be pronounced as Highness). Will it manage to create a dent in RE’s market share in the mid-weight segment in India is a question that will be answered in a few months.
