In a delightful turn of events, Royal Enfield has decided to open bookings for its legendary premium 650cc twin motorcycles – the Interceptor and Continental GT – in November this year. In contrast to the company’s earlier plans to launch the bikes outside India first, Royal Enfield may now be planning to simultaneously launch them worldwide.
Based on media reports, both the Continentinal GT 650 and the Interceptor 650, or the ‘RE twins’ as they are called, are expected to be launched in India by the festive season this year, as well as in international markets.
“Bookings of the two bikes to start in November and deliveries after that. Media drives [are scheduled] to happen in California in September. The launch will happen in India and rest of the world,” Siddhartha Lal, MD and CEO, Eicher Motors, was quoted by financial news website Moneycontrol, as speaking to analysts.
Eicher Motors, the parent company of Royal Enfield, citing excessive demand as the reason for the delay in launching the ‘RE twins’, said they will ramp up production of the Inceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 in a phased manner across geographies.
“The production ramp up will happen in a phased manner. By the end of this financial year we will be in most of the important markets around the world. We won’t have any capacity issues with the twins. The ramp up will be slow. By March 2019 we will be able to deliver what the market requires,” Lal was additionally quoted saying.
The Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 are powered by the same 648cc, parallel twin, fuel injected, air- and oil-cooled engine offering 47.7 PS peak power at 7,100 rpm and 52 Nm peak torque at 5,250 rpm. The engine is mated to a 6-speed transmission, newly developed, with a slipper clutch.
The two bikes will be the costliest and most powerful from the Royal Enfield stable. While the Interceptor is a new bike, the new Continental GT is a replacement for the now phased out Continental GT, which was powered by a 535cc engine.
Both motorcycles will be offered in four colour options adding a bit of modern flair to the classically styled motorcycles. While price details are not out yet, the bikes are largely speculated to be priced around Rs. 3.5 lakh.
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