Swaraj Baggonkar Moneycontrol News
Eicher Motors-owned niche bikemaker Royal Enfield will reveal the price of the Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 on November 14 for the Indian market.
The two bikes were launched in the US in September and in UK and Europe earlier this month. In the US, the Interceptor is priced at $5,799 and the Continental GT at $5,999. The Interceptor is priced at 5,500 pounds in the UK and at 6,200 euros in Europe.
Royal Enfield hopes India will be the biggest market for the two models followed by developed markets such as the US. The company expects some degree of cannibalisation with its existing 500cc models including the Classic range.
Siddhartha Lal, MD and CEO, Eicher Motors said, “We certainly expect India to be the biggest market for these bikes. But we expect the export percentage to be much higher for them. We are seeing that the large base of Royal Enfield riders being extremely interested in these two models. These models will take time to take-off. And these create a halo for the brand overall. It’s impossible to predict cannibalization and there will be some element of that.”
Though Lal did not mention the volumes expected from the Interceptor and Continental GT the two have been created with an idea of enhancing the overall brand appeal for Royal Enfield.
“When we created and launched the Continental GT (535cc) there were a lot of walk-ins in our showrooms. Many of these prospective buyers did not buy the Continental GT but ended up buying some other Royal Enfield product. So the new twins will also have the same effect,” added Lal.
Following the full recommencement of operations at the Oragadam plant in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 50 days, Royal Enfield is ramping up production for the twin models. The company also mentioned a backlog of 2-3 weeks of orders for its regular models, during a conference call organised after the announcement of its second quarter results.
“Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 have been under development for the last four years. Our UK technology centre was leading the development and we have got a fully new product introduction process underway. These are a totally new generation of motorcycles coming out. The Indian media rides start in Goa which is when prices will be announced. We have been doing lots of interesting things on the platform of the two bikes. So there is a custom built Bonneville racer on which we managed to clock a top speed of 157 miles per hour”, added Lal.
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