Royal Enfield plans massive ramp up

Indian owned classic Brit bike maker plans to up the production capacity at its Chennai based plant. Will this move mark a change in its fortune?

After the strong demand and the consequent long waiting periods for its new breed of motorcycles, Royal Enfield has revealed plans of upping the capacity at its Chennai plant to almost double its current limit within the span of three years. While the current capacity of the plant rests at 52,000 units a year, the phased ramp up will ensure that 70,000 RE bikes hit the streets in 2011, and the figure is expected to reach 1,00,000 units by the time expansion plans reach their completion in 2013. The move marks a change in fortunes for the Indian-owned Brit bike brand after its new-tech fuel injected and unit construction engines significantly improved emission and reliability levels, which coincided almost perfectly with a newfound and widespread interest in the brand locally and globally. While it all started with the 350cc unit construction twinspark engine on its Thunderbird model, the move towards more modern engines was carried forth with the fuel injected 500cc Bullet Classic late last year. Recently, Royal Enfield's entire lineup was converted to be powered by these two engines, including the venerable Std 350 and Electra models.