Royal Enfield Himalayan 250 could sit below the existing Himalayan and use a new BSVI compliant powertrain
Royal Enfield will reportedly introduce a brand new adventure bike sometime next year. While no official details have been announced yet, we all know what has been cooking in recent times. The homegrown manufacturer has been testing the next generation motorcycles undisguised and the test prototypes are in production-ready state.
What is internally codenamed the J1D could be named the Meteor 350 replacing the existing Thunderbird 350 with a BSVI compliant 346 cc single-cylinder engine. It must be noted that Royal Enfield recently trademarked names such as Roadster, Sherpa, Hunter and Flying Flea. While the Meteor name was used in the ’50s, its comeback could be certain judging by a set of undisguised spy images spotted lately.
The Roadster name may as well be used for a Triumph Street Twin styled motorcycle that was also caught on camera a few weeks ago. The Chennai-based brand is also preparing a smaller and more accessible women-centric motorcycle according to reports. Moreover, a scrambler based on 650 cc platform could also be in the pipeline, as does a smaller version of the Himalayan.
The BSVI version of the dual-purpose adventure tourer is already up and running, and its sales have been pretty good in recent months. A smaller version of the Himalayan could help in the nameplate reaching more customers and it may boast a new 250 cc powertrain. The gap between Hero XPulse 200 and RE Himalayan is huge considering the performance and price tags and thus the Himalayan 250 could fit the bill perfectly.
This will help in Royal Enfield getting a first-mover advantage over Hero MotoCorp in the 250 cc adventure motorcycle space. The J1C codename could be for one of the aforementioned possible models but we do not have a clear cut information on what it actually is.
A new report indicates that the Himalayan 250 will be lighter than its bigger sibling. We do hope to see a Himalayan 250 next year and it could compete against Hero XPulse 300 and KTM 250 Adventure to capitalise on the craze for adv space. Let us wait and see what really pans out when the social and economic conditions get back to normal stage!