Royal Enfield to launch Continental GT in UK next month

Royal Enfield, a part of the Eicher Motors Group, will launch its new model Continental GT in the UK next month as it looks to tap global customers in the mid-sized motorcycle segment.

The company will also increase its total motorcycle production by over 40 percent next year to 2.5 lakh units from an expected 1.76 lakh units this year.

"The Continental GT will be launched in the UK in September. This is a product for the global audience and is one of the big steps we are taking to be a global player in the mid-sized segment," Eicher Motors Managing Director & CEO Siddhartha Lal said in a conference call.

He said Royal Enfield has been working to expand its distribution footprint both in the domestic and international markets towards achieving leadership in the global mid-sized motorcycle segment.

When asked if the Continental GT, a niche caf-racer motorcycle, would be launched in India, he said it would happen later in the year.

On increasing of production, Lal said: "We have said that this year we will have a total of 1.75 lakh units from two plants. Next year it will go up to 2.5 lakh units."

With the commissioning of the new plant at Oragadam, near Chennai earlier this year, the company has been gradually ramping up production in order to reduce waiting period for its motorcycles.

"In the beginning of this year we were producing about 12,000 units a month. In July we produced about 16,000 units and we are gradually moving along as per planned," he said.

Lal, however, said the company doesn't see a drastic cut in the waiting period for its products, which at present is around seven months on an average, as bookings are still coming.

"We expect the waiting period will now be around six months," he said.

Royal Enfield's models include the Bullet, Classic and Thunderbird in both 350 and 500 cc displacements. Its bikes are exported to over 40 countries across the world, including the USA, Japan, UK and other European nations and Latin American countries, as well as the Middle East and South Asia.

In India, it operates through 11 company-operated stores and 250 dealers in all major cities and towns. 

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