Enfield opens new factory

Another sign of the huge growth of motorcycling in India and Asia came this week with Royal Enfield opening an all-new plant and revealing plans to produce up to 250,000 motorcycles a year –more than twice BMW or KTM’s output – in 2014.

The new facility at Oragadam is spread over 50 acres and will produce 150,000 machines in its first phase, says Enfield, before rising to 250,000 and eventually 500,000 annually, covering the full range of Royal Enfield motorcycles.

The first machine was ridden off the production line by Siddhartha Lal, MD and CEO of parent group Eicher Motors Ltd. He said: “Royal Enfield has recorded growth of over 50% for each of the last two years.

“We have been extremely successful in stretching the capacity of our existing 60-year-old plant yet the demand for our motorcycles has continued to outpace supply. We have created a masterplan that can take eventual production to over 500,000 per year.”