Royal Enfield May Stop Selling Its 500 cc Bikes in India

Royal Enfield might stop selling its 500 cc bikes in India as per a LiveMint report. The named models include Bullet 500, Classic 500 and the Thunderbird 500. The main reason behind this is because of the low sales and the rising cost of upgrading these models to BS6 standards. Upgrades of such an attractive model to BS6 may not be viable for the company.

Rather, Royal Enfield will be shifting its focus on its new and updated range of 350 cc motorbikes in India. These model got spot testing in India. The powertrain that they will be using has got revamped.

The obvious changes that you may see in the all-new Classic 350 are the new catalytic converter formulated right next to the engine. The oxygen sensors are placed on top of the exhaust bend pipe. The new generation Royal Enfield Classic 350 will be a fuel-injected model for meeting the new emission regulations. It is expected to come to display from 1st April 2020.

“The pushrod architecture of the existing 350cc and 500cc engines do not meet the stringent emission norms. As a result, the existing model line-up will be phased out.”

The brand is planning in the restoration of the 350cc segment with an all-new powertrain that will fetch the bulk of sales. During this time, it will be omitting the 500cc displacement. All of this has been stated by the LiveMint at the company.

Domestic sales of 500cc bikes rose from 12,216 units in FY13 to 36,093 units in FY19. Datta from Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers stated the above having a 3 fold growth. In terms of 350cc bikes, Royal Enfield sold 108,478 units in FY13. The number rose to 764,012 units in FY19. And the growth here is nearly seven-fold.

The concept of introducing 650cc bikes to encourage 500cc loyalists to upgrade. And this will further allow the brand to drive deep into other enhanced markets. The way of implementation is to come up as a strong competition globally in the 350-650cc segment at the same time.