Cruise bike maker Royal Enfield is one of India’s oldest workhorse in the sector

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that looks contemporary without much change in its outlook over the past 55 years. Royal Enfield has always kept pace with the requirement of its consumers without much tinkering with its models. But whether it is Bullet Standard, Classic, Electra or Thunderbird, there are always enough fans, who would swear by the brand and are willing to wait for months to get one. In an interview with S Ronendra Singh, the bike maker’s top boss shares its future plans. Excerpts:

With international companies such as Harley Davidson and Triumph entering India, do you see competition for Royal Enfield?

No, we do not see any competition. In fact, we are really excited that these companies have come in to India and we have been here for long. The Asian market for such motorcycles is slowly and steadily catching people’s imagination. There are queries on everybody’s mind for such products whether it will excite one or not or will be interesting. But there are roads for each segment of motorcycle; there is room for everybody. The new ecosystem has opened up and it is just beginning to be occupied. In the 10-million strong Indian motorcycle market, where a huge chunk of young consumers are willing to spend and experiment, the demographic is completely in our favour.

There has been a waiting period for your bikes. Are you working towards reducing that?

We are working on that and that is why we are doubling our capacity to 1.50 lakh motorcycles per year at our new Chennai plant that would be operational by the first quarter of 2013. We would also hire people as and when we need for this plant so that our customers do not have to wait for long. We have 1,500 workers right now. We have to sweeten with the period as demand is increasing every year. We had sold 52,000 units in 2010 and had grown to 74,000 units in 2011 with 12 different model options. We also plan to increase our dealerships by 30-40 outlets every year, but at the same time we also keep in mind to retain the old dealers. We have 200 showrooms at present.

What about technological and quality improvement of your products?

We have always been working on technologies to improve our products, but we have never advertised that. Our customers have always found better technologies whenever they have bought our products — whether it is the fuel technology, the high intensity lighting or any other component. The future bikes from our stable would also come with better and newer technologies.

How many motorcycles do you plan to export this year?

We exported around 3,200 motorcycles last year in around 40 countries. We do not share future numbers, but we will definitely grow the numbers this year. We sold 700 motorcycles last year in California alone in the US. We will follow and watch for other markets too this year.

When do you plan to start selling the riding gears? Do you see buyers for such products in India?

The riding gears and accessories will be available from April, coinciding with the launch of a new model. There are a lot of buyers for such products as Indian bikers are realising the importance and fun of riding with full gear, especially on long trips. The market for such products will also grow in the future.