RE reported sales of 57,313 units in November, 2016 against 40,769 units during the same time last year resulting in a growth of 40.6%.
- Domestic Sales stood at 55,843 units against 40,312 units
- Exports more than doubled by 1,013 units to 1,470 units resulting in a jump of of 221.7%
- Sales of >350cc motorcycle witnessed growth at 49.5% as the company sold 4,954 units against 3,314 units
Continuing its retail expansion, RE dealerships now stand 605 as of September 2016. On a near-term basis, RE remains extremely strong as the company now tries to solidify its position and profitably as the leading player in the midsized motorcycle segment. RE is witnessing a trend down in terms of the age of the buyer while its first time buyer comes from a 150 cc commuter motorcycle.
Its Classic 350 motorcycle (the biggest model) now commands a 3 months waiting period – same as earlier but for some other models, it has comes down to 30 and 45 days. The Classic 350 is growing faster (its good resale value is better than any other model) which can be witnessed in the higher order intake and dispatches (top 20 cities /markets in the country which have over 1/3 network distribution account for 50% sales and have witnessed growth of 15% year-on-year).
Its 500 CC range of products such as the Bullet 500, Classic 500, Thunderbird 500 and Continental GT have virtually gone unnoticed in the market though they put together clock in sales of over 5,000 units a month.
REs current production capacity is capped at 60,000 units a month (which means the company cannot get any immediate bump-up in sales or even due to the limitation of models festive sales do not pickup) till the next plant i.e. Vallam Vadagal Phase I gets into production which would be anytime during July to September, 2017. Total production capacity of all 3 plants put together would stand close to 900,000 units in the year 2018-19.
RE has a new product in the pipeline which it plans to launch next financial year and it currently focussed on expanding its existing products at this point including the Himalayan through which the company currently targets the adventure-tourer segment.
Tapan Sharma, Dealer Principal, Aman Automobiles (an authorised dealership of Royal Enfield said,
We have seen a drop in sales volumes, yes, but the number hasn’t been drastic. Against daily sales of around 3-4 units, the number has fallen to roughly 2-3 units a day.
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