Royal Enfield entered the United States properly last year and sees the opportunity as a very positive one
The oldest motorcycle brand in continuous production – Royal Enfield had set up its dealership in Milwaukee last year as its first North American flagship store. The Eicher-owned brand has its own strategies for America and at least for the time being, Harley Davidson is not at all worried about it. This is due to the simple reason that Harley Davidson and Royal Enfield build completely different motorcycles and don’t really share any common segment at least for the time being.
Currently, Royal Enfield is aiming at setting up 60 dealerships in America besides launching multiple new models. Royal Enfield has its dominance when it comes to entry level cruisers especially in a country like India. For this reason, one can say that the company has its command over Harley in one aspect. However, in the United States, RE really need to establish itself as the said market is captured majorly by Harley.
Though the two companies sell different kind of products, they are still united by one thing. The history of Royal Enfield and Harley Davidson dates back to over a century. Furthermore, the styling of the products by both these auto giants revolves around retro classic and vintage bikes that shout out old school design language and styling. Currently, the status which Harley Davidson enjoys in the United States, is being relished by Royal Enfield in India.
Since Harley has its strong presence and roots in US, Royal Enfield is very far away from giving a threat to the former. While RE easily sells thousands of units in its domestic market, doing a similar task in the US is quite difficult as the brand is relatively unknown there. Royal Enfield sees this opportunity as a very positive one and it believes that there might be a little crossover but a different type of customer would be looking at RE motorcycles for sure.
