The Hindu Business Line : Royal Enfield developing engine, two bikes for export market

Mechanics
Engine to be in 350 cc and 500 cc displacements.
One design being developed jointly with a UK design studio.
Co also plans to launch Thunderbird with the 350 cc UCE engine.

EXPORT AIM: Mr R.L. Ravichandran, Managing Director, Royal Enfield. — Paul Noronha (File photo)

Mumbai May 24 Royal Enfield Ltd, the two-wheeler company of the Eicher group, is all set to introduce a new engine and two new international bike designs in the export market. For this product and design development, the company is set to invest Rs 40 crore.

Coded as the UCE (unit construction engine), it will be the first Royal Enfield engine with an integrated gearbox mated to the engine that will have an electronic fuel injection.

The new technical development would reduce friction and wear-and-tear in mechanical parts of the engine, thus offering better refinement in engine performance, said Mr R.L. Ravichandran, Managing Director, Royal Enfield.

The engine would be available in 350 cc and 500 cc engine displacements.

This engine is primarily being made to adhere to the strict emission norms (Euro III) that are present in the company's export markets like Europe (Germany, the UK, Switzerland), America and Australia.

Design of the engine's main architecture is being developed in-house while NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness), internal combustion of the engine is being tested by European design consultants.

An Italian two-wheeler engine specialist is conducting NVH tests while engine and transmission reliability is being tested with the help of Japanese consultants.

Launch plan

The new engine and a completely new bike design on the likes of a `leisure cruiser' will be simultaneously launched at the forthcoming Birmingham Motor Show held in England. The new design is currently being developed jointly with an independent design studio in UK.

Currently, the company has two international models that cater to the export markets. They are the `Classic' and the `Electra models; the later would be discontinued and the `Classic' would be the second design that the company is currently working on. It will be introduced with a face-lift that will suit the new generation of classic design and styling.

With the new engine and two new designs introduced in a phase manner, the company intends to increase its sales in the export market. Currently, 10 per cent of production caters to the export market. Mr Ravichandran said that by 2010, the company intends to increase it to 25 per cent.

On the domestic front, the company has sold 30,000 vehicles last fiscal, it now intends to sell 50,000 units by the fiscal 2008-09.

For that, the company has plans to increase its existing number of `Royal Enfield' dealerships that are exclusively run by the company.

As of now, it has these exclusive dealerships established in cities like Hyderabad, Lucknow and Mumbai; a total of seven dealerships that would be further strengthened with an additional three by the end of this year in cities like Kochi, Coimbatore and Navi Mumbai.

Besides having these exclusive dealerships, the company has its own chain of dealerships (less than 100) across the country.

To supplement the growth in dealerships, the company is also planning to launch the Thunderbird with the new 350cc UCE engine though the old engine technology will not be discarded.

The future of the old engines is purely based on the customer feedback that the company gets from the market, concluded Mr Ravichandran.

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