Indian owned Royal Enfield makes no bones about its mission in life being to dominate the middleweight category, and it appears to be doing just that right here in New Zealand.
June was a stellar month for the world’s oldest motorcycle brand in continuous production, with Royal Enfield topping the sales charts for bikes specifically between 250cc and 1000cc in engine size. That means the figures Enfield are going by exclude popular small capacity models such as Suzuki’s GSX250R which just misses out at 249cc capacity.
Royal Enfield shifted 67 new bikes in June into owners hands according to Motor Industry Assosciation figures, with the Royal Enfield Classic and Himalayan fighting for the top selling spot within the brand.
The brand’s popularity in the mid-size segment is hardly surprising considering Royal Enfield is one of the fastest growing brands in the world at the moment. Enfield saw a growth of close to 60% in 2020 as compared to the previous year in the road bike segment. This comes off the back of a growth in the overall retail footprint of the brand in the Asia Pacific region, which grew by 50% in key priority markets for 2020. Royal Enfield has a footprint of 47 outlets across Australia and New Zealand.
"We are absolutely delighted that we have become the number one mid-size motorcycling brand in New Zealand,” says Royal Enfield’s Head Business APAC,Vimal Sumbly.
“Royal Enfield has intently focused on growing and leading the middleweight segment market across the world and becoming a truly Global motorcycling brand. We have consistently grown our network, reach, product, apparel, GMA range and offerings to appeal to the customers. In fact, since our entry in Australia and New Zealand, we have received great feedback and love from motorcycle enthusiasts. We are the guardians of what’s authentic and real for people who are trying to explore and discover themselves and the world around them. We have a strong customer base of over 8000 riders and achieving this feat is a clear testament of our growth as well as commitment to this market. This is just the start of our journey and with the support of passionate riders, we wish to achieve many more such milestones.”
Enfield recently added two new models into dealerships in the form of the Meteor 350 and the limited edition Classic 500 Tribute Black.
In overall sales, Suzuki remains the most popular motorcycle brand in New Zealand by a strong margin with 951 sales this year. This is followed by Yamaha (489) and Honda (423) and KTM (420) with Royal Enfield having sold a total of 259 units - good for 7th place overall and ahead of the likes of Kawasaki, BMW and Indian.