There
was a time, when this warrior was the king, who rode triumphantly
around, because there was no one to match him. Even in my home town
of Pune of 1950's, he reigned supreme on the roads. Pune was a small
city of about two or three hundred thousand people then and known as
a bicycle city because almost everyone (at least the male population)
had a bicycle as the principal mode of transport. The public
transport system of those days in Pune, comprised of few dilapidated
rickety-rackety buses, which also holds true even today though the
numbers might have multiplied by hundreds. There were no motorized
taxis and for personal hire, two wheeled light carriages, driven by
horses and known as 'Tangas' or 'Tongas' were available. Some noble
and rich families used to have their own 4 wheeled buggy carriages,
but they used to be very few.
Readers
can therefor well imagine or appreciate a typical scene on the Pune
city street of those days, where hundreds of bicycles intermingled
with occasional 'Tongas' plying on the roads. There used to be no
foot paths on the roads and pedestrians also shared the same roads.
To ride a bicycle in such kind of busy street, needed immense driving
or riding skills. Pune bicycle riders were famous for that.
Yet
amongst the chaos on city roads, there was this king, who flashed by,
in his gleaming and sparkling armour, and with sheer power that
resonated with each of the boom-boom sound beat that came from the
chromium plated exhausts. Readers by now must have guessed it. The
road king was none other than the “Royal Enfield” motor cycle.
Pune
city always had, since the days of British Raj, a twin sister
popularly known as Pune Camp or Pune Cantonment, where initially the
soldiers and officers were stationed. They had their own motorized
transports of second world war vintage and one would encounter these
on the cantonment streets. These vehicles very rarely came to the
city limits and for most of the Pune citizens, Pune camp was part of
some other far off world. In the fringe areas, between the city and
camp, people of other communities stayed. These included Parsi's and
Bohori's, who followed their own sub sect of Shia Islam and were
followers of Prince Aga Khan. Parsi community always had deep pockets
and mostly used to be affluent. It was the Parsis, who predominantly
owned the motor cycles, though there were a few Maharashtrian owners
too. Since the motor cycles were very few in numbers, the owners used
to be extremely proud of them, as they took them out for a ride.
Royal Enfields of those day( that like of today) had 4 stroke
engines. I can still remember the rhythmical idling rant coming from
those superb 4 stroke engines “ Thup....Thup.....Thup” and when
they accelerated, the crazy feeling of power that they gave, even to
the bystanders. They essentially came in three engine capacities,
250, 350 cubic centimeters and 500 cubic centimeters.
Royal
Enfields were then assembled in Chennai under license from a British
marque from Redditch. Later however, the British parent had its
demise and Royal Enfield became an Indian entity and soon became a
brand; a yardstick on the basis of which others started getting
measured. More than half a century ago, the original British
manufacturer of these motor cycles shut down the production line of
these bikes in England. Yet today in India, this motor cycle still
sells well in a competitive market dominated by “Bajaj”, “Honda”
and “Kawasaki.” In India today, this motor cycle is considered
the symbol of the male power and has a tremendous brand value. During
a visit to Ladakh region of India in 2011, I found that 99.99 % of
Motor cycles used there are only Royal Enfields. I met number of
foreign tourists there, who all preferred and praised this rugged
bike for their travels in Ladakh. The Enfield company was originally
a gun and rifle supplier to the British army. It is therefore
generally believed that this motor cycle is built like a rifle,
rugged and reliable. More than 60 years have passed since last
British soldier left shores of India along with his Enfield rifle.
Yet the legend lives and Enfield motor cycles still reign in India.
It has
been reported this week that this David of motor cycles, compared to
the giants of the motor cycle world, has taken on the highways- the
Goliath - Milwaukee-born Harley-Davidson (HD), who makes motorcycles
with engine displacements over 700 cc and has been an undisputed king
of the motor cycles on roads. In 2014, around 300,000 Royal Enfields
were sold surpassing sales of 267000 Harley Davidsons worldwide.
Harley's worldwide sales grew at 3%, whereas Royal Enfields sales
grew at whooping 70%. No doubt a remarkable achievement for the
stunning turnaround by one of the world's oldest motorcycle brands.
However, since the Harley bikes cost more than double (Harley bike in
India cost around Rupees 500,000 against Royal Enfield's cost of
200,00) the Harley total sales figures are much higher.
Ten
years ago, Royal Enfield, though it was an established brand-loved by
motor cycle enthusiasts in India- were only a fringe player compared
to Japanese rivals like Yamaha and Honda, who had more reliable
models. One of the principle reasons for this was Enfield's old
unreliable cast iron engine block. Then in February 1990, Eicher
Goodearth bought 26% stake in Enfield India Ltd and by 1993 Eicher
acquired a majority stake in Enfield India. The new management
revamped the company, modernizing its portfolio. It rolled out a slew
of new contemporary models, such as, the Classic, the new Thunderbird
and the Continental GT. In late 1995, the Enfield India acquired the
rights to the name Royal Enfield. Today Royal Enfield of India sells
motorcycles in over twenty countries. Company's CEO accepts that his
company can no way be compared to Harle-Davidson, who has a world
wide sale. Compared to them Royal Enfields have a poor presence in
western Europe and US.
No one
can deny the fact that Royal Enfield has become a status symbol for
India's youth today. If they innovate and come with better and
contemporary models, sky is the limit for them.
3rd
February 2015
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