Eicher mulls greenfield facility for Bullets, other two-wheelers
By IANSFriday, January 21, 2011
CHENNAI - Automobile major Eicher Motors Ltd is mulling a greenfield facility for its Enfield Bullet and other two-wheelers that would meet the needs of the company for the next ten years, said a senior company official.
The company’s two-wheeler division is called Royal Enfield and rolls out the Enfield Bullet, Thunderbird and other high-powered motorbikes.
Speaking to reporters on the margins of summit ‘Sustaining Manufacturing Leadership of Tamil Nadu’ organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Royal Enfield’s Chief Executive Officer R.L. Ravichandran said: “The new facility would bring down the waiting period for the bike from the current six months and satisfy the growing demand.”
However, he was tightlipped on the investment and capacity details for the proposed plant, but said the plant could come up in Tamil Nadu or in Andhra Pradesh.
Royal Enfield’s existing plant is in Chennai whose capacity will also be raised by 20 percent at an outlay of Rs.25 crore, Ravichandran said.
According to him, the division is likely to close this year with sales of around 70,000 units which would take the turnover to Rs.500 crore.
He said the division is planning to increase its two-wheeler shipments to Latin America, Africa and the Middle East besides shoring up its presence in Europe and the US.
The division exports around 7 percent of its sales.
