The first all-new Royal Enfield motorcycle in over five decades and probably the most significant ever to be made in India by the venerable firm was unveiled yesterday in Goa to the national media. The Continental GT marks a tectonic shift for the maker of the Bullet but this bike goes beyond the nostalgic Royal Enfield offering and in so doing moves away from its staple diet yet has traditional and modernity residing in one happy package.
The inspiration for the new bike is an iconic machine from Royal Enfield's British past, the 250cc single cylinder Continental GT which was then - in 1965 - the fastest quarter-litre bike sold in the UK. The new bike evokes the same theme of performance for the present day but has a raft of modern features that Are subtly blended into the package to deliver practical yet mellow motorcycling for the times. In the pipeline for the better part of over half a decade, the company took its time to soak in the heritage and also to understand ways and means to balance tradition and every day practicality while yet conforming to contemporary legislation before making the new machine.
Built around its single cylinder UCE (unit construction engine which is the only bit borrowed from the existing Bullet portfolio, this engine has been bored out to 535cc and is perhaps the most powerful and torquey motor ever to roll out of the firm's Chennai facilities. It is however what is built around it that marks the Continental GT as one to watch out for. A completely new frame designed and developed by Harris Performance of the UK, frame makers of Grand Prix racing machines for decades along with some of the best and proven suspension and cycle aggregates from the best component specialists worldwide makes this a truly evocative machine.
The Continental GT though is to be views not just as a big milestone for the company (which it sure is) but for the fact that it heralds an all new approach by its maker to make a bike for the global markets. The global market for bikes with an engine displacement in the range of 250cc to 750cc is estimated to be in the region of around 800,000 units and Royal Enfield wants to play major role in this segment. In fact given the bike demographics worldwide, this is the sweet spot where motorcycling is headed back to - involving rather than intimidating and Royal Enfield is hopeful that it could dominate this territory.
The firm which commissioned its all new manufacturing facility at Oragaddam near Chennai earlier this year has seen not just the numbers go up but thanks to the new manufacturing processes, the waiting time for its models has been steadily being shaved off. Already the monthly average output is to the tune of around 20,000 bikes a month and with the new Continental GT being so brilliantly price positioned, expect this number to increase dramatically. At an on-the-road price of Rs 2.14 lakhs in Mumbai, it is seriously hard to ignore, whatever be your kind of motorcycling.
The very aggressive price positioning is also symbolic of a new Royal Enfield which its youthful and enthusiastic CEO Siddharth Lal is striving to develop. With traditional rivals like Harley-Davidson and Triumph (India launch today) poised to offer their own low cost motorcycles to Indian (and south East Asian) bikers, the manner in which Royal Enfield has fired a warning salvo across their combined bows marks the start of a new and very interesting dynamic that will be played out on our roads from January 2014 onwards. Watch this space!
via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGB3DVrmIkSeSz5JUkmuKTKn0079Q&url=http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-royal-enfield-s-continental-gambit-to-go-global-1925894
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