Royal Enfield to invest Rs. 700 crore this fiscal year to develop new global platforms, Technology Centre and phase 2 at the Vallam Vadagal plant
Royal Enfield is planning to expand its operations to other countries around the world as the recently introduced GT 650 twins are doing well, which has given confidence for the company to develop more platforms for the global market. Eicher Motors announced that they will invest Rs. 700 crore in Royal Enfield for this fiscal year.
The investment will be used to complete the construction work of the Technology Centre as it will be the base for development of new products and Phase-2 at the Vallam Vadagal plant in Tamil Nadu. Phase 2 of the new plant is expected to begin operations by the end of this year as all other plants are currently running in full capacity.
Royal Enfield is likely to open the Technology Centre in Chennai this fiscal year. The company announced its wholly owned subsidiary in Thailand last fiscal year as it is one of the biggest two-wheeler markets in the Asian region. The assembly operation in Thailand is expected to begin in June 2019 and it will be first for the company outside India.
The company has managed to produce 8.26 lakh units in the last fiscal year and among them, 8.05 lakh units are sold in the Indian market. Royal Enfield wants to increase production to 9.50 lakh units this fiscal year and they are also focusing on updating current products in the Indian market to meet the upcoming BSVI norms.
They have already commenced works on the updated Classic and Thunderbird series as both models get aesthetical changes to make them more appealing as they are facing stiff competition from Jawa and sales of Classic series has come down a lot after the introduction of Jawa models since November 2018.
The company has also updated the entire lineup with ABS system and Royal Enfield is offering dual-channel units. The introduction of ABS has increased the price slightly. Royal Enfield launched the Bullet 300 and 500 Trials in India earlier this month. The adventure design theme might make it more appealing.
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