I like the green one.
Posted on 09/01/2015 11:26:57 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
With less than 1,000 motorcycles sold in the U.S. last year, the Royal Enfield brand has a somewhat underground presence. But the newly hired Milwaukee team — equipped with years of experience at Harley-Davidson Inc. — plans to change that.
Royal Enfield last month announced it has set up a North American headquarters for distribution and sales in Milwaukee, with Rod Copes, former head of global sales and customer service for Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG), at the helm as president.
Copes' team set aggressive distribution goals for the end of 2016, looking to serve the middleweight motorcycle market as a complement, not a competitor, to Harley's products.
"We’re building and repositioning the brand," Copes said. "We want to be the most influential worldwide in that middleweight market, from 250cc to 750cc."
Ryan Hoffins, vice president of marketing and another former Harley employee, said the company hopes to establish relationships with 80 to 100 independent dealerships around the country by the end of 2016, and open five to eight corporate-owned dealerships in the states that allow them. Previously, the company had exported bikes through a small Minnesota-based distributor, who will no longer be involved after 2015.
The first corporate dealership will be located in the group's future offices in the first floor of the Mitchell Leather building in Milwaukee's 3rd Ward neighborhood. Copes said the 3rd Ward location represents a strategic effort to target new audiences that don't typically embrace motorcycles, such as millennials and women. With smaller, lighter bikes than many of the prevalent brands, Royal Enfield could have a wider appeal than what's on the market. The bikes also have a smaller price tag, at between $5,000 and $6,000, compared with Harley's Street 500, the Milwaukee manufacturer's only comparable bike, at almost $7,000.
"We see an opportunity for spouses of Harley riders, especially females who are used to riding on the back, to get their own bikes," Copes said. "We hear continuously that bikes in the market just aren’t conducive to women’s stature."
Hoffins said the Royal Enfield brand also could appeal to residents of large cities where it's expensive and inconvenient to own a car.
"We’ll offer an alternative to both big bikes and scooters," he said.
And while the Milwaukee location on the surface looks like a jab at Harley, Copes said it was primarily a decision based on talent, as Copes and several other hires were already based here.
By 2017, Royal Enfield plans to build its Milwaukee office to 25 employees. It currently employs 12. Copes said the company has no plans to bring any manufacturing to the U.S., but could foresee doing customization and configuration here in the future. "We won’t duplicate what they do in India," he said.
"There’s no way we could compete with their cost structure."
The company sells three models in the U.S. — the 535cc Continental GT, the 499cc Classic 500 and the 499cc Bullet.
I like the green one.
That an n't retro, it's the real thing. At it's heart it's still a 1955 Enfield.
You can literally take this bike off the showroom and go vintage racing.
Well...I used to own a Triumph, many moons ago, back when Indians were actually Indians and people drove MG’s and Corvairs.
So it’s retro to me...lol
BTW....I was raised in Milwaukee....(just outside) actually Brookfield.
Thank you.
BTW RE Bikes have been available for many years here.
They just dont suit everyone and service is non existent.
Yeah I like a 350 thumper on a dirt mountain road.
Suspention sucks
Pits in the wind!
A chopper with a raked out front is the epitome of stupid to me
STOOPID...
Unless it is a Sugar Bear front end, I agree.
>> “We’re building and repositioning the brand,” Copes said.
Sadly, that’s the accepted vernacular.
I’d rather hear, “We’re rebuilding and positioning the bike”
Yes, I know all too well about rider fatigue. I had dirt bikes as a kid, and as soon as I was old enough to get a driver’s license, I bought a small Honda runabout. It was perfect for what I used it for, just running around town.
Some friends of mine talked me into going on a multi-state trip over a holiday weekend, and I was never more miserable in my life (and being young, I tolerated misery much better than I do now!). The vibration practically rattled my back fillings out!
I sold that bike in the 1970’s, and now that I am in my 60’s and approaching retirement, I might consider another bike. Like my old one, it would be used as a runabout. I like the old retro cruiser look. And any thoughts of cross country touring would be fantasy. A 100 mile day trip to Galveston would be as far as I would take it. So, something like this bike might be just what I am looking for. The bikes Royal Enfield builds aren’t racers, just leisurely cruisers. I probably fit their demographic.
I didn’t want anyone to think I was knocking this new bike, I just know that the group I rode with which was a mixture of men and women and that the HD riders would just keep going. At that time the gals were riding Honda Shadows and the gal I was with had a Kawasaki 650 sport bike. When she traded up to the Victory Vegas it wasn’t long for the rest of them to buy HD’s, even though most of felt that there were a couple of them not ready for that big of jump, but in the end they were fine as long as you didn’t get behind them pulling some long winding up hill grade...
Yeah, I hear ya, shotgun. If I was looking to to do touring trips, I would have an entirely different outlook, as the criteria for meeting my needs would change.
Don’t know what I will end up with, but I’m the kind of person that does his homework before buying, and at this stage I wouldn’t rule out the Royal Enfield.
My biggest concern is reliability, although I read they are improving.
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