Royal Enfield, a division of Eicher Motors Ltd., (EML) intends to grow its international business further by introducing more products, expanding retail network and strengthening global assembly capacities to ensure faster market reach.
Siddhartha Lal
| Photo Credit:
PTI
“We’ve taken really giant strides in our international business, and have crossed a milestone 1,00,000-mark in export shipments in 2022-23. This is a very positive inflection point for us, and we believe we have a virtuous cycle now in international markets,” said EML’s MD & CEO Siddhartha Lal in the latest annual report.
According to him, RE is now the highest selling motorcycle brand in the 250cc-750cc mid-size segment in India, Korea and in the UK, second in Thailand, and third in France, Italy and Australia. In the Americas, RE has more than 7% market share, close to 9% in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and in West Asia.
“With a strong line-up of motorcycles, and with our expanding network of premium stores and retail touch points across the world, I believe we have huge headroom for growth in international markets,” he said.
RE has traditionally been an Indian market focussed company. In the last five years, the company’s international sales volume has expanded over five times, along with market share gains in key markets. The international revenue in FY23 is about ₹2,080 crore, according to its CFO Vidya Srinivasan.
The rising demand for RE motorcycles in international markets along with long-term prospects necessitates expanding capacities. The brand is meeting the same with its completely knocked down (CKD) assembly units, RE said.
Currently, RE has four CKD assembly units across Argentina, Colombia, Thailand and Brazil. More opportunities are being explored in priority markets such as APAC and LATAM regions. Further, an agreement has been signed for setting up CKDs in Nepal and Bangladesh as well
Regarding its Electric Vehicle programme, EML said the long-term product and technology roadmap is in place and the development work on key projects have been started.
The Company already has several ideas in advanced stages of testing and is steadily proceeding towards the planned launch of its first EV product in 2025.
EML had acquired a 10.35% equity stake in European, high-performance electric motorcycle manufacturer Stark Future for €50 million, with an intent for long-term collaborative R&D in electric motorcycles, technology-sharing, technical licensing, and manufacturing. With this investment, the company will explore further opportunities to collaborate in the space of electric mobility.
For all the latest business News Click Here
