Royal Enfield. Royal Enfield is an Indian multinational motorcycle manufacturing company, headquartered in Chennai. The Royal Enfield brand, including its original English heritage, is the oldest global motorcycle brand in continuous production. The company operates manufacturing plants in Chennai, India.

The first Royal Enfield motorcycle was built in 1901 by The Enfield Cycle Company of Redditch, Worcestershire, England, which was responsible for the design and original production of the Royal Enfield Bullet, the longest-lived motorcycle design in history. Licensed from the original English Royal Enfield by the indigenous Indian Madras Motors, the company is now a subsidiary of Eicher Motors, an Indian automaker. The company makes classic-looking motorcycles including the Royal Enfield Bullet, Classic 350, Royal Enfield Thunderbird, Meteor 350, Classic 500, Interceptor 650, Continental, Hunter 350 and many more. Royal Enfield also makes adventurous and offroading motorcycles like the Royal Enfield Himalayan. Their motorcycles are equipped with single-cylinder and twin-cylinder engines.

History

After the Indian Independence Act 1947 the new government looked for a suitable motorcycle for its army to patrol the country's border. In 1952 the Royal Enfield Bullet was chosen as the most suitable bike for the job. In 1954, the government ordered 800 in units of the 350 cc model. In 1955, the Redditch company partnered with Madras Motors in India to form 'Enfield India' to assemble, under licence, the 350 cc Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle in Madras (now called Chennai). The tooling was sold to Enfield India so that they could manufacture components. By 1962, all the components were made in India. The Indian Enfield uses the 1960 engine (with metric bearing sizes), Royal Enfield still makes an essentially similar bike in the 350 cc and 500 cc models, along with several different models for different market segments.

In the year 1990, Royal Enfield collaborated with the Eicher Group, an automotive company in India, and merged with it in 1994. Apart from bikes, Eicher Group is involved in the production and sales of commercial vehicles and automotive gears. Although Royal Enfield experienced difficulties in the 1990s, and ceased motorcycle production at their Jaipur factory in 2002, by 2013 the company opened a new primary factory in the Chennai suburb of Oragadam on the strength of increased demand for its motorcycles. This was followed in 2017 by the inauguration of another new factory of a similar size to the facility at Oragadam (capacity 600,000 vehicles per year) at Vallam Vadagal. The original factory at Tiruvottiyur became secondary, and continues to produce some limited-run motorcycle models.

Flooding, produced by the heaviest rainfall in Chennai in over a century, caused Royal Enfield to cut production by 4,000 motorcycles in November 2015, followed by a shutdown of the plants in Thiruvottiyur and Oragadam on 1 December, as well as the company offices in Chennai. Production resumed at 50% capacity on 7 December and operations at both plants were back to normal on 14 December.

Royal Enfield announced its first takeover of another company in May, 2015 with the purchase of a UK motorcycle design and manufacturing firm, Harris Performance Products, that had previously developed the chassis of the Royal Enfield Continental GT Cafe Racer. Harris work with the UK-based part of Royal Enfield's development team, who are based at the UK Technology Centre at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in Leicestershire. The team was established in January 2015, and moved into their new, purpose-built facility in May 2017. By the end of 2019, the team numbered 155 and carries out the full spectrum of design and development activities, from concept generation and clay design to engineering design, prototyping and validation.

Royal Enfield currently sells motorcycles in more than 50 countries. Royal Enfield surpassed Harley-Davidson in global sales in 2015.

In August 2015, Royal Enfield Motors announced it is establishing its North American headquarters and a dealership in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with the intention to offer three bikes, the Bullet 500, Classic 500 and Continental GT 535 Cafe Racer as they feel this engine size represents an under-served market. The dealership will be Royal Enfield's first company-owned store in the U.S., according to Rod Copes, president of Royal Enfield North America. The company wants to establish about 100 dealerships in American cities starting with Milwaukee.

Later in August 2015, parent-business Eicher announced its entry in Indonesia as a part of its global strategy in the mid-sized (250–750 cc) motorcycle segment, initially starting retail operations from a dealership in Jakarta. From April to September, 2015, Royal Enfield's domestic sales were 50% higher than the previous year, despite a declining motorcycle market in India.

Motorcycles manufactured by Royal Enfield

Bullet

The Royal Enfield Bullet has the longest unchanged production run of any motorcycle, having remained continuously in production since 1948. The Bullet marque is even older and has passed 75 years of continuous production. The Royal Enfield and Bullet names were derived from the British company which had been a subcontractor to the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield, London.

It has been long associated with the Police and Armed forces in India and owning one is considered a privilege by most Indians and continues to remain ever popular in India. Although the Bullet 500 was discontinued due to poor sales, The Next Generation Bullet 350 was launched on September 1, 2023. It has a retro style and is priced at ₹1.74 lakh (US$2,090) in India. In January 2024 Royal Enfield Bullet 350 was launched in two new colors- Military Silver Black and Military Silver Red.

Classic

Royal Enfield Classic 350 and Classic 500 are models of Royal Enfield motorcycles which have been in production since 2009. The Classic series of Royal Enfield motorcycles are inspired by the Royal Enfield G2 350cc Bullet motorcycle, first produced in 1948..It has also been confused often with the Bullet for their similar look in design as the Classic is a modernised version of the original Royal Enfield Bullet.

Hunter

The Royal Enfield Hunter 350 is a roadster motorcycle launched by Royal Enfield in August 2022 in India. It is powered by 349cc BS6 engine that produces 20.2 bhp and 27 Nm of torque. The Hunter 350 is the most affordable motorcycle under the new J-platform, and the second least expensive bike after Royal Enfield Bullet 350. The motorcycle features a retro-style single-piece seat, a classic round headlamp, a flat handlebar and a sculpted fuel tank. Within a month of launch Hunter 350 becomes the second highest selling Royal Enfield motorcycle.

Shotgun
Royal Enfield Shotgun 650 is a 648cc, parallel-twin motor that pumps out 46.40bhp at 7,250rpm and a peak torque of 52.3Nm at 5,650rpm. The oil-cooled engine is paired to a six-speed gearbox, with a slipper clutch. The factory-custom bobber based on the same platform as the new Continental GT 650. A limited edition Shotgun was launched at the Motoverse 2023 with an attractive blue-and-black color scheme. Later on the production version was revealed which had the same specifications as the Motoverse edition except the color scheme .

Scram
The Royal Enfield Scram is a minimalistic street scrambler which is a close cousin to the Himalayan 411, even saying "Himalayan Scram" on the side panels and has the same fuel tank as the 2015-2023 Himalayan. It is powered by a 411cc BS6-2.0 emissions standard air cooled engine which produces 24.3 bhp and 32nm torque. It was launched in March 2022 as Enfield's first ADV crossover. 

Royal Enfield unveiled a new Scram model called the "Scram 440", as a replacement for the Scram 411 based on the same engine platform in November 2024. The new update model features an updated engine which goes up in cubic capacity from 411cc to 443cc; Power and torque have climbed from 24.3hp at 6,500rpm and 32Nm at 4,250rpm to 25.4hp at 6,250rpm and 34Nm at 4,000rpm.

Himalayan

The Royal Enfield Himalayan is an adventure touring motorcycle manufactured by Royal Enfield. It was revealed in February 2015 and launched in early 2016. Pierre Terblanche led the design team during Himalayan's development. It is specially designed for use on adventure trails.

An entirely new Himalayan was launched on 24 November 2023, with a liquid cooled Sherpa 450 engine, switchable ABS as standard, and improved design and build quality. It is the first motorcycle in Royal Enfield's history to be powered by a liquid cooled engine. It was named the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450, and the old model was discontinued in November 2023.

Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650

Royal Enfield unveiled a 650 cc twin-cylinder engine at their Technology Centre, Harris Performance Products, in Leicestershire, England, in November 2017 to power a new generation of Royal Enfield motorcycles. It was showcased at the Milan Motorcycle Show on 7 November 2017 in Italy, where two motorcycles based on the engine, the Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 were revealed. Both models were introduced to the US market in November 2018 to positive reviews. The Interceptor is marketed as the INT650 in the United States where Honda has a trademark on the Interceptor name. During the years 2020–2021, the 650cc twins were the best-selling motorcycles in Great Britain.

The Royal Enfield Continental GT is a Neo-retro Café Racer .The first model to use the name, the Continental GT 250, was produced by the original Royal Enfield in the 1960s UK. The name was revived by the Indian manufacturer in the 2010s with the Continental GT 535 (now discontinued) and Continental GT 650.

Meteor

Royal Enfield launched a new lineup of cruiser motorcycles on 6 November 2020 named the Meteor. It replaced the Thunderbird 350 and 350X series which were discontinued earlier that year. It uses a 349 cc single cylinder engine featuring a single overhead camshaft system (SOHC), and a completely new engine with fewer moving parts than the 346 cc. A 648 cc, air cooled version of the bike has been revealed named the Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 which was released on January 16, 2023. It is the first Royal Enfield to offer the Tripper navigation system.

Guerrilla 
The Royal Enfield Guerrilla is a new roadster unveiled on 17 July, 2024 by Royal Enfield. It is based on the 2023 Himalayan featuring the same chassis, 6-speed gearbox, and the 452cc liquid-cooled Sherpa Engine, with 39.47 bhp and 40 Nm of torque. The Guerrilla features a new rear sub-frame, 17 inch alloy wheels, and a 140mm telescopic fork front suspension, while reducing the stroke value of the rear suspension to 150mm. The bike features a minimalistic design with a smaller 11 litre fuel tank while retaining the round LED headlamp and flat-style handlebar, common amongst its three variants.

Bear 650 
The Royal Enfield Interceptor Bear 650 was officially released on October 31, 2024. It has been described as "a stylish scrambler-styled standard based primarily on the brand's INT 650 model, though with some notable differences."

On the Design and Styling front, Bear 650 comes with a scrambler seat, side panel number boards, and urban-off-road aesthetics. Full LED lights bring modern functionality. 

Derived from the Shotgun series this motorcycle uses Showa USD Forks, but optimized for scrambler duties with longer suspension travel. To complement its off-road credentials, the ride height has been raised. The Interceptor Bear 650 retains the Interceptor 650's brakes but upgrades the front disc size for added stopping power along with Dual-channel ABS with a switchable rear ABS.

Equipped with a full-color TFT screen with integrated navigation brings modern tech to the classic platform. Powered by the 650cc parallel-twin engine delivering 47bhp and an increased torque of 57N-m (5N-m more than the Interceptor),  while saving weight owing to two-into-one exhaust system.

Manufacturing plants

 Thiruvottiyur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
 Oragadam Industrial Corridor, Oragadam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
 SIPCOT Industrial Park, Vallam Vadagal, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

See also
List of Royal Enfield motorcycles

References

Further reading

External links

Royal Enfield Motors
Motorcycle manufacturers of India
Companies based in Chennai
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1955
Indian brands
Indian companies established in 1955