Royal Enfield to spawn three new platforms

Royal Enfield have been going all guns blazing. Their unveil of the 650cc twins- Continental GT650 and Interceptor 650 at the EICMA 2017 in Milan, have attracted lot of attention and have made RE fans excited once again. This time there is further news that the company is working on three new platforms for their future bikes. In fact, these platforms will be replacing the exisiting ones. New emission norms will be coming and these platforms will be catering to those norms.

The new 650cc bikes are also built on a new platform. The engine is a 648cc, parallel twin, 4-stroke, single overhead cam, air-cooled unit that belts out 47bhp and 52Nm of torque. aThe transmission is a six-speed one and it also gets a slip-assist clutch. ABS will be standard on both the bikes.These bikes are slated to start production in India by April 2018 and will also be exported to Europe, while being sold in India. RE is taking the fight to bigger brands like Triumph and Harley-Davidson. The high point of these bikes will be their affordability. Those looking for an upgrade from their existing RE bikes have a good option to stay within the family.

Royal Enfield is concentrating on global markets and hence is investing in new platforms than can churn out new models with global competency.

There have been reports that the company is working on high capacity Himalayan, which will be sold both in India and overseas. This bike will be made on one of the new platforms that RE is developing.

The company is bullish n expanding its range of motorcycles in the 300-750cc category. They are eying markets like Latin America and South East Asia.

Currently outside India,  they sell bikes in London, Paris, Milwaukee, Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Bogota, Medellin, Dubai, Jakarta, Bangkok and Melbourne. The new markets will give the company an edge and the new platforms and products will be the catalyst. RE is also looking at introducing electric bikes in the future and has already started working towards it.

The company has also commenced production in its third plant in Chennai and is further spending about Rs. 800 crores for developing new platforms and products.