[apachelongbow]

The Ugly:
The headline number of RE are stellar, but if one dig down under the numbers, there is a sad story.
None of the neo products are selling in the market.
Case: CGT is doing dismal numbers. I was hoping that such a invested and well engineered product will sell well in the market. However that is not the case. Hope they recover the cost of development on this product.
Case 2: Himalayan is not exactly doing stellar numbers. Once the hype fades, it might settle further down.
Now if one looks at the product volumes, apart from classic doing 35K-40K units per month, the drop across other variants in 350cc class is drastic to 8k units a month. If one climbs the ladder, 500cc is hardly doing 1k units a month. The highest margin contributor (CGT) is doing dismal figures month on month. Now, with RE looking to eat a bigger pie in margin class, there is a limited acceptance for RE products in that above 350cc segment.
If RE has to churn out more new products in higher margin category, it has to ensure its cash cow (classic 350) is sold well. But how long will that party last???

P.S.: I ride CGT and hence keen interest on its performance. Don't have to start other RE bashing thread/post, your contribution in terms of business strategy/tactics is welcome.

The Himalayan is IMO the best bet platform for RE. Discount the anemic engine for now. The chassis, suspension and ride comfort are by far the best in their stable. If they want numbers or a entry into a higher segment, they must marry the rumoured 700cc parallel twin to the Himalayan platform and produce an affordable off-road/on road bike. Price it around 3 lacs and watch sales fly. IMO the cgt is not the platform for a new parallel twin, pure sales wise a cafe racer is not the right bike for India considering our riding conditions. And yes, I agree it's time for RE to get out of that British thumper phase and concentrate on building modern motorcycles if they intend to survive in the coming 5 years on.

[payeng]

The Classic 350 was an accident that Royal Enfield would find extremely hard to replicate.. no matter how good/reliable/smooth it's future products become

[ringoism]

Others have mentioned - and it is truly astonishing - the TVS XL, the CL350. The Splendor seems to still be at/near the top (2+lakh/mo!!!) after decades, and I wonder how long it will be before anything can overtake it. And then we see such relatively low sales of things like the Conti GT or even the Bullet 500 (which costs hardly more than the CL350 and IMO is so much more appropriately powered). What we can conclude is that despite all the growing interest and enthusiasm, we are still operating in the context of a very conservative market overall. -Eric

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by julyone_modi

R3 selling better than Ninja for entire year! Quiet Impressive

Agreed! In fact, the N300 sold only 25-odd copies over the last 3 months as opposed to almost 10 times higher sale of R3. Wonder what caused the sudden drop in sales for the N300 over the last 4 months or so? Is it due to apprehensions regarding the service scenario post Bajaj-Kawasaki split?

[julyone_modi]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

The Himalayan is IMO the best bet platform for RE. Discount the anemic engine for now. The chassis, suspension and ride comfort are by far the best in their stable. If they want numbers or a entry into a higher segment, they must marry the rumored 700cc parallel twin to the Himalayan platform and produce an affordable off-road/on road bike. Price it around 3 lacs and watch sales fly.

Yes, worth a shot. However, Himalayan is modified CGT chassis, a platform they have invested to derive plethora of products. hope it clicks in the market.

IMO the cgt is not the platform for a new parallel twin, pure sales wise a cafe racer is not the right bike for India considering our riding conditions.

I disagree, a cafe racer is perfect fit in terms of novelty, heritage connection, fast light bike, simple build.. It has all the elements. The only thing is that it never clicked in the market, probably due to price point it fights, at around 2.3L, its direct in Duke category and competing with Duke, this has negligible value. For 750 twin, a CGT in 3.5-4 Lakh bracket, there is a considerable void. Hope it clicks there. Just need to create more aspirational value wrt that product.
Also I ride a GT so bigger GT is welcome..not that I will upgrade

And yes, I agree it's time for RE to get out of that British thumper phase and concentrate on building modern motorcycles if they intend to survive in the coming 5 years on.

This is my biggest concern.
RE is well geared (at least in intentions and recent efforts) to move away from the thumper lineage. Is the market ready to accept RE as a modern retro bike maker?? - I think not!!!