Royal Enfield sells 200 despatch bikes online in 26 mins

Niche bike maker Royal Enfield today said it has sold its entire inventory of 200 units of limited edition motorcycles within 26 minutes of opening of online booking.

Royal Enfield, the two-wheeler division of Eicher Motors had unveiled a range of limited edition bikes in May, inspired by the 'despatch riders' of the World Wars, which were be sold online only.

"We have sold out our entire inventory of the 200 limited edition despatch motorcycles for India within 26 minutes of opening the online booking on store.Royalenfield.Com," Royal Enfield, President, Rudratej Singh told PTI.

In a world where products are marketed for planned obsolescence, the success of the despatch motorcycle range is a celebration of classic timeless design and Royal Enfield's rich heritage, he added.

The despatch motorcycle range is priced at Rs 2.16 lakh (on road Delhi).

The Chennai-based two-wheeler maker, which currently sells popular bikes like Bullet, Classic, Thunderbird and Continental GT, plans to invest Rs 500 crore this year on R&D, new product development, capacity expansion and setting up of two technology development centres in Chennai and UK.

The investment would also go into the phase two of its Oragadam plant in Chennai.

The production capacity of the company is also slated to go up from 30,000 units a month last year to 50,000 units a month by this year-end.

In the first quarter Royal Enfield posted record sales of 92,845 units, a growth of 44.5 per cent over first quarter of 2014.