Royal Enfield (India)

History

The Indian government looked for a suitable motorcycle for its police and army, for patrolling the country's border. The Royal Enfield Bullet was chosen as the most suitable bike for the job. The Indian government ordered 800 350 cc model Bullets. In 1955, the Redditch company partnered with Madras Motors in India to form 'Enfield India' to assemble, under licence, the 350 cc Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle in Madras (now called Chennai). The tooling was sold to Enfield India so that they could manufacture components. By 1962, all components were made in India. The Indian Enfield uses the 1960 engine (with metric bearing sizes), Royal Enfield still makes an essentially similar bike in the 350 cc and 500 cc models, along with several different models for different market segments.

Royal Enfield was a brand of the Enfield Cycle Company, a British manufacturing firm. It started in India for the Indian Army 350 cc bikes were imported in kits from the UK and assembled in Chennai. After a few years, the company started producing the 500 cc Bullet.

In 1990, Royal Enfield collaborated with the Eicher Group, an automotive company in India, and merged with it in 1994. Apart from bikes, Eicher Group is involved in the production and sales of tractors, commercial vehicles, and automotive gears. Although Royal Enfield experienced difficulties in the 1990s, and ceased motorcycle production at their Jaipur factory in 2002, by 2013 the company opened a new primary factory in the Chennai suburb of Oragadam on the strength of increased demand for its motorcycles. The original factory at Tiruvottiyur became secondary, and continues to produce engines and some motorcycle models. In 2014 Royal Enfield appointed Pierre Terblanche as the head of new product design.

In January 2015, the company announced the appointment of Rudratej ‘Rudy’ Singh as President of Royal Enfield. Singh was previously a Vice President of Unilever in Singapore. Royal Enfield announced its first takeover of another company in May, 2015 with the purchase of a UK motorcycle design and manufacturing firm, Harris Performance Products, that had previously developed the chassis of the Royal Enfield Continental GT Cafe Racer.

Royal Enfield currently sells motorcycles in more than 50 countries. Royal Enfield surpassed Harley-Davidson in global sales in 2015, and received an acknowledgment from US President Barack Obama as the guest of honor at the 2015 Delhi Republic Day parade. "I saw the Republic Day daredevils on Royal Enfield motorcycles," Obama said, adding that "the secret service doesn't let me ride motorcycles, especially not on my head." He again acknowledged the Border Security Force riders later in the day, saying "I would, by the way, not drive a motorcycle after watching those incredible acrobats."

In August 2015, Royal Enfield Motors announced it is establishing its North American headquarters and a dealership in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with the intention to offer three bikes, the Bullet 500, Classic 500 and Continental GT 535 Cafe Racer as they feel this engine size represents an underserved market. The dealership will be Royal Enfield's first company-owned store in the U.S., according to Rod Copes, president of Royal Enfield North America. The company wants to establish about 100 dealerships in American cities starting with Milwaukee.

"I live here, so I am biased. But in my mind, Milwaukee is kind of the center of motorcycling in the United States," said Copes, a former Harley-Davidson executive. "We view this as kind of our first flagship dealership," he added.

Later in August 2015, parent-business Eicher announced its entry in Indonesia as a part of its global strategy in the mid-sized (250-750 cc) motorcycle segment, initially starting retail operations from a dealership in Jakarta. From April to September, 2015, Royal Enfield's domestic sales were 50% higher than the previous year, despite a declining motorcycle market in India.

2015 floods

Flooding, produced by the heaviest rainfall in Chennai in over a century, caused Royal Enfield to cut production by 4,000 motorcycles in November 2015, followed by a shutdown of the plants in Thiruvottiyur and Oragadam on 1 December, as well as the company offices in Chennai. Production resumed at 50% capacity on 7 December and operations at both plants were back to normal on 14 December.