Royal Enfield, originally a British marque from Redditch, now owned by Chennai-based Eicher Motors, sold over 300,000 bikes in 2014, thus outnumbering the US-based motorcycle giant - Harley Davidson. Harley managed to sell a total of 267,000 bikes in 2014. Though both the companies don't compete with each other globally, it's a big news in India since the two are leading market share holders in heavy bike segment.
The major reason behind the rise in RE's global market share is its affordability. While Harley's least expensive bike, the Street 750, costs Rs 500,000 in India, RE's most expensive bike - the Continental GT - costs about Rs 200,000, which is Rs 300,000 less than the cheapest Harley. That said, Harley is definitely ahead in the profit game since the premium on HD bikes is much more than that of RE bikes.
Royal Enfield concluded 2014 with a strong sales performance and posted sales of 28,634 units in combined domestic wholesale and exports in December, 2014 - recording a growth of 48 per cent over the same period last year. In January too, the company reported 42 per cent rise in its domestic sales at 28,157 units in January 2015, compared to 19,808 units in the corresponding month last year.
To further grow this lead, Royal Enfield is now planning to build a strong network in Western Europe and the US. Talking about the growth, while RE's global sales grew by 70 per cent, the US-based bike maker grew by only 3 per cent.
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