Carberry Enfield is all set to introduce its 1,000cc V-twin motorcycle based on Royal Enfield 500cc engine in India. The company has found an Indian investor named Jaspreet Singh Bhatia who has convinced them to move to Bhilai for its new base of operations.
If you are a motorcycle enthusiast, you must have heard about Paul Carberry. Paul is the man behind Carberry Enfield, the firm that successfully crafted 1000cc V-twin engine based on Royal Enfield 500cc single cylinder engine. The company sold 13 such motorcycles in Australia before they closed operations because of rising raw material and manpower costs.
Live-Mint has spoken to them and if the news reports are to be believed, the company will start selling 1000cc custom made motorcycles in India.
In terms of mechanics, the bike will be powered by 1000cc, 55-degree V-twin engine based on the Royal Enfield 500cc single-cylinder engine.
Jaspreet Singh Bhatia said – “We have come under a partnership. Paul is bringing in his knowledge and I am bringing my money.”
Paul Carberry said – “Royal Enfield as a brand is very special to Indians, which prompted him to bring his engines to India. When functional, his website carberryenfield.com used to attract 60,000 visitors a month, mostly Indians.”
“I have worked on this for years and it has generated a lot of interest worldwide.”
But the big challenge for the company will be to meet Indian homologation and emission norms. Government has already declared that they might be leapfrogging from Bharat Stage IV to BS VI emission norms by 2020 to reduce pollution.
Paul Carberry said – “I’m confident that my engines will meet required emission norms and 2020 is a lot of time away. I can do many things in between.”
The bigger challenge, according to Carberry, will be in finding the right parts suppliers.
Carberry also said – “It’s going to be a hand built bike and completely different from others.”
The Carberry Enfield retains the original parts of Royal Enfield as much as possible. They develops custom-built crank cases, reworked frames and fuel tanks to accommodate the V-twin engine. So that the bike could be fixed as easily as possible.
It will be too early to quote a price for one such motorcycle. But considering the fact that motorcycle will be manufactured locally in India might drop the cost of production to over half of what it was in Australia.
