Royal Enfield is expected to price the interceptor 650 highly aggressively in the Indian market and it could prove to be a success formula
Royal Enfield revealed prices of its Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 for the US market a few days ago and it holds all the keys for us to discuss on the pricing for Indian customers. The interceptor costs $5,799 (4.21 lakh) while the Continental GT 650 is priced at $5,999 (Rs. 4.35 lakh).
With the Indian currency being on a slide for months, we cannot expect the exact equivalent pricing when the 650 twins go on sale around Diwali in the domestic market. Over to the Classic 500 ABS with ex-showroom price of Rs. 1.98 lakh, if Royal Enfield quotes a difference of around Rs. 50,000-60,000 for the Interceptor, the final pricing could still be astonishing.
Having known the calculative and bold pricing strategy Royal Enfield follows throughout, the aforementioned price for the all-new Interceptor 650 is possible in reality. Since the difference between Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 is only around Rs. 15,000, the latter is more likely to cost well under Rs. 3 lakh (ex-showroom).
A couple of parallel twin motorcycles between Rs. 2.6 lakh and Rs. 3 lakh (ex-showroom) is as tempting as it would seem and Royal Enfield may just manage to lure in price conscious customers looking for KTM RC390 or TVS Apache RR310. The more affordable Interceptor 650 could become the best-selling premium bike in India as well if the pricing stays true.
It pays homage to the Interceptor of the 1960s and features an old school handlebar, halogen bulbs inside a round glazed headlamp unit, teardrop shaped fuel tank, vintage flat seat and much more. It gets power from an air/oil cooled fuel-injected 648 cc parallel-twin engine developing 47 bhp at 7,250 rpm and 52 Nm of peak torque at 5,250 rpm.
The powertrain with 270-degree firing order is connected to a brand new six-speed manual transmission and Royal Enfield says 80 percent of torque will be available from as low as 2,000 rpm. Some of the important features present are slip-assist clutch, dual-channel ABS sourced from Bosch, 18-inch aluminium spoked rims with Pirelli Phantom Sportcomp tyres, etc.