Royal Enfield announces new plant

From Classic Motorworks

CHENNAI, INDIA – Royal Enfield Motors, manufacturer the iconic Bullet motorcycle line and the world's oldest motorcycle brand, has announced the construction of a new manufacturing facility. 

The new pant will spread across 50 acres in Chennai’s SIPCOT Industrial Growth Centre and is slated for completion by the first quarter of 2013. Once completed, the new plant will more than double Royal Enfield’s current capacity of 70,000 units per year to 150,000 units per year.

The new plant will be equipped to produce the full range of Royal Enfield motorcycles and allow the company to keep up with the brand’s rising popularity, both in the booming Indian domestic market and in fast-growing export markets like the United States, where Royal Enfield’s improved engine design and vintage aethetics have been making a big splash with consumers.

“We’re very pleased with the growth we’ve seen in recent years. Royal Enfield has made incredible imrpovements its product design and consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere are really beginning to take notice,” commented Kevin Mahoney, President of Royal Enfield USA. “Today’s announcement shows that Royal Enfield is very aware of it’s growing customer base and committed to meeting the expectations of consumers around the world.”

Royal Enfield motorcycles have been in continuous production since 1901. The marque was first established in 1893 by Enfield Manufacturing Co. of Redditch, Worcestershire, England under license from the Crown. The company's legacy in weapons manufacturing served as inspiration for the Bullet model name and brand's enduring motto "Made Like A Gun, Goes Like A Bullet."

The Redditch company's Indian licensee started assembling Bullet motorcycles in India in 1951 and continued to uphold the brand tradition after the collapse of the British company in 1971. Today, as the owner of the original brand, the $100M Royal Enfield company is headquartered in Chennai, India and operates as a division of the $1B Eicher Group. In recent years, the historic brand has seen a resurgence of interest around the world, selling over 50,000 motorcycles per year to loyal riders in 30 countries.