Rony

Nandini Sengupta, TNN | Jan 6, 2012, 06.26AM IST

NEW DELHI: As Royal Enfield increases its stable beyond the now iconic Bullet , it is also attracting an entirely new type of customer - young, city-bred and professional. Unlike the semi-urban appeal of the Bullet brand, the new Royal Enfield products like Classic 500 are reaching out to a "more affluent" crowd as biking becomes a cool hobby.

"Ten years ago, we used to be both an urban as well as a semi urban brand but today our growth has been almost entirely in urban areas as 18-30 year old professionals in IT or business walk into our showroom," said Siddhartha Lal, CEO of Royal Enfield. "In that sense our growth has gone in the exact opposite direction than the mass market commuter motorcycles."

The 100cc bikes that dominate the Indian market are increasingly finding buyers in semi-urban and rural areas. Currently over 40% of market leader Hero Moto's sales come from rural markets. In contrast, lifestyle products such as cruiser bikes are finding acceptance among the urban young as more and more international brands like Honda, Suzuki, Harley Davidson and Triumph launch their performance bikes.

However most of the imported bikes are very costly so numbers are still very small. "With new players in the market, our sales have grown. Earlier we just had one product - the Bullet. When we launched the Thunderbird, old Bullet owners were very upset and said this is not Royal Enfield. We wanted to expand our brand beyond the Bullet through our new models," said Lal.

The strategy is also attracting a new breed of dealers for Royal Enfield. "They are from a different demographic - sons of businessmen who own, say petrol pumps or mills. They want to do something cool and they love biking so they take up RE dealerships . For us it's a win-win because we get strong capital backing and a good business mind as well," said Lal.

Source : Auto Expo 2012: Beyond the Bullet: Enfield eyes urban market - The Times of India

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sunilg

News approved.

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princesirohi

i really can't understand what is the news in this..

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Samarth 619

The company notes that the iconic Royal Enfield is increasingly adopted by the urban youth biker, rather than just a commuter as it was in the era gone by.

In the 70s and 80s, everything in the market was a torquey 250 or 350, including Yezdi, Jawa, RD350, etc, it made the commuter market of that era. Even Royal Enfield was included in that era. The time when doodhwallas used Bullet to work/ commute.

Today, the situation is different. Today, a well geared guy on a Classic 350/500 is a biker and we know it. And the commuters are filtered down to 100cc's, as simple as that.

princesirohi

oh, so THIS is the news... hmmnnn...

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