Siddhartha Lal wants Royal Enfield’s domestic success replicated overseas
For Royal Enfield enthusiasts, the 42-year old CEO of Eicher Motors (erstwhile owners of RE) is said to be the man with the golden touch. Under his watch, the 118 year old brand has gone on to command a 90% market share in the middle-weight classic bike & lifestyle motorcycling segment in India. The domination on the domestic front hasn’t quite been replicated on the overseas front, with exports contributing a mere 5% of overall sales.
Sid Lal (as he is popularly known) admits to Royal Enfield’s tiny presence on the global scene but is priming up to change things over time. Having identified the significant gap in the middle-weight motorcycles in the overseas markets, he remains bullish on Royal Enfield’s chances as succeeding here. He recently moved to London, wanting to be in the thick of things, as the legendary motorcycle maker starts to take its first steps towards overseas success.
In addition to expanding the Leicestershire based Technical Centre’s headcount from 30, to 50, Royal Enfield has been slowly upping the pace through key hires and acquisitions. They recently bought out Harris Performance. This was the same design and engineering firm who’d worked their magic on the flagship Continental GT’s chassis, which was received warmly by the industry and buyers alike. It has also been pushing deeper into Latin American & South-Asian Markets, with a foray into Brazil being next on the radar. The North American & European debut too is expected sometime in the coming year.
Royal Enfield spent all of last year and the current one putting the pieces of the puzzle in place – a work that’s still far from complete, but insiders say, that the masterpiece is shaping up beautifully. The additions at the top comprise the who’s who of industry experts, cherry picked, not just for their talent, but also for their decades of specific experience which should do wonders to the company’s global push. So far, Royal Enfield has managed to rope in luminaries such as Rod Copes (ex-Harley Davidson), Pierre Terblanche (responsible for penning those evocative lines on Ducati’s), James Young (Triumph), Simon Warburton (Triumph) and Mark Wells (RE Classic & Continental GT).
The competition on the global level is quite intense, say industry experts. Some go on to opine that the lack of power in RE’s products together with the production pressures in terms of quality as well as output, might prove to be quite the challenge for the firm. But CEO, Siddhartha Lal remains candid about the tough road ahead. Acknowledging the concerns, he reckons that the situation may indeed have been rather challenging a decade before, but Royal Enfield has come a long way since then. The focus on dominating the domestic market and the learning gleaned from the success there are going to hold them in good stead. The rousing welcome for the Continental GT only went on to add fuel to his convictions.
The focus, he says is on developing newer engine & chassis platforms, ones that develop more power and are in-line with consumer expectations overseas, even as they remain true to the Royal Enfield DNA. Thus, the two new engine platforms under final-stages of development along with the associated chassis and five model platforms should go on to bolster the company’s efforts in making a dent on the global scene.
Progress though shall be tough. The existing market is filled with players who have the necessary product portfolio as well as the experience of having been around for years now. Buyer demands too are slightly different from the ones in the domestic market. So pricing wouldn’t be as much of a focus point as will power, safety and features be. But the company hasn’t really come up the success ladder without knowing a trick or two about it. Moreover, if recent movements are any indicator, then the established International competition shall do well to watch out for products bearing the RE Logo. Royal Enfield won’t have it easy going forward, but if there’s any firm that can do it, it is the maker of the legendary Bullet who can come out trumps on the global scene too. The coming decade should be quite an interesting one for Royal Enfield fans, with Sid Lal & Team RE, coming out all guns blazing!
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