The world’s oldest bike-maker in continuous production, Royal Enfield, is looking to strengthen overseas presence as it eyes setting up of subsidiaries to manage operations better. Royal Enfield is a unit of Eicher Motors.

Apart from the mature North America market (Royal Enfield North America), the company has a subsidiary in the emerging market of Brazil (Royal Enfield Brazil). The Thailand-based subsidiary is expected to be operational by the year-end.

The focus will continue to be on the middle-weight segment (250 cc to 700 cc category). The portfolio includes models like Classic, Bullet, Thunderbird —which have the 350 cc and 500 cc variant, the Himalayan(410 cc variant), and recently-launched Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650.

The company already ships to 55-odd countries that include USA and Latin American nations; European nations like United Kingdom; parts of South East Asia like Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam; and Australia. According to Rudratej Singh, President, Royal Enfield, the subsidiaries will help the company manage operations by improving its dealer network.

Regulatory framework

“We are looking at strengthening our overseas presence across both mature and emerging markets. South Asia and Latin American markets are the ones we are looking into actively,” he told BusinessLine . Singh was recently in town for the launch of its twins motorcycles, Continental GT and Interceptor INT 650.

At present, exports are done from the three facilities — one each in Oragadam, Tiruvattyur and Vallam Vadagal — near Chennai (Tamil Nadu).

The capacity guidance for FY-19 has been set at 925,000 units. In FY18 Royal Enfield exported 18,891 units, a 26 per cent year-on-year growth.

The cap-ex for the fiscal has been pegged at ₹800 crore mostly for manufacturing, product development, international and domestic expansion and setting up of its Chennai tech facility. The cap-ex also includes Phase-2 expansion at the Vallam Vadagal facility that is expected to go on-stream next fiscal.

According to Singh, the company has set up a team to look into possibilities around electric motor-cycles.

However, the regulatory framework is yet to evolve. With the formation of the regulatory environment, the company will “be ready” with its “unique offering”. “Electrification is something that we are working on,” he said.

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