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According to The Times of India, Royal Enfield sold just over 300,000 bikes globally, compared to Harley's 267,000.
Discussions of quality aside, Royal Enfield's bikes are a bargain - especially in their native land, where consumers can expect to drop a mere 93,000 to 150,000 rupees ($1,500 to $2,500 USD) on a Royal Enfield bike. We all know what Harleys cost, and given the per capita income in India, the affordability factor looms large.
India's notoriously poor and clogged roadways and population density make motorcycles a far more mainstream form of transportation. In fact, India is the world's second largest producer of motorcycles, and motorcycles (and motortrikes) outnumber cars 5 to 1.
Royal Enfield's turnaround - a rapid one at that, with over 40 percent of that increase coming from sales between 2013 and 2014 - can at least in part be attributed to parent company, Eicher Motors. Managing director Siddhartha Lal has said that his ambition is to see Royal Enfield dominate the mid-size bike market in the U.S., and went so far as to hire former H-D head of global sales and customer service Rod Copes to oversee Royal Enfield's efforts here in the States.
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40% increase in one yr is over the top with these types of numbers ... First, you gotta have all the materials on hand to build the parts, then you gotta build the parts. Then put the parts together. No easy feat ... These processes have doomed more than 1 company when they were expanding their product line and sells numbers because they could not keep up with demand.
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SP quietly sheds a tear over these numbers and the future butter he imagines on his plate ...
I'll be on the look-out for one of these bikes here, but again, no city-boy here cuts the odds of me seeing one ...

Discussions of quality aside, Royal Enfield's bikes are a bargain - especially in their native land, where consumers can expect to drop a mere 93,000 to 150,000 rupees ($1,500 to $2,500 USD) on a Royal Enfield bike. We all know what Harleys cost, and given the per capita income in India, the affordability factor looms large.
India's notoriously poor and clogged roadways and population density make motorcycles a far more mainstream form of transportation. In fact, India is the world's second largest producer of motorcycles, and motorcycles (and motortrikes) outnumber cars 5 to 1.
Royal Enfield's turnaround - a rapid one at that, with over 40 percent of that increase coming from sales between 2013 and 2014 - can at least in part be attributed to parent company, Eicher Motors. Managing director Siddhartha Lal has said that his ambition is to see Royal Enfield dominate the mid-size bike market in the U.S., and went so far as to hire former H-D head of global sales and customer service Rod Copes to oversee Royal Enfield's efforts here in the States.
--
40% increase in one yr is over the top with these types of numbers ... First, you gotta have all the materials on hand to build the parts, then you gotta build the parts. Then put the parts together. No easy feat ... These processes have doomed more than 1 company when they were expanding their product line and sells numbers because they could not keep up with demand.
--
SP quietly sheds a tear over these numbers and the future butter he imagines on his plate ...
I'll be on the look-out for one of these bikes here, but again, no city-boy here cuts the odds of me seeing one ...
