[Aditya]

Royal Enfield has revealed that it has hired South African designer, Pierre Terblanche.

Terblanche left US-based Confederate Motorcycles to join the Eicher Motors-owned company. He has worked for many prominent motorcycle manufacturers including Ducati, Cagiva, Moto Guzzi and Norton. Some of the bikes he designed include the Cagiva 900 Grand Canyon, Ducati 749 / 999, SportClassic Series and SuperSport and the Confederate X132 Hellcat Speedster.

Additonally, Terblanche has also worked with German carmaker Volkswagen and South African boat manufacturer Bobkat.

Royal Enfield has big plans to expand operations in India as well as abroad. The company has acquired a 50 acre plot at Vallam Vadakal near Chennai to construct a third factory in the country. It is also planning to expand its dealer network from 300 in early 2014 to 400 by the end of 2014 and 500 in 2015.

[condor]

So is another, completely new line of motorcycles planned by RE ?

[Silverflash]

Originally Posted by condor

So is another, completely new line of motorcycles planned by RE ?

I do hope so. They've been tied to long stroke, big single push rod engines for far too long in their (highly successful) strategy of packaging and selling nostalgia to a newer generation.

If hiring Terblanche is the precursor to moving in a new direction that cuts the umbilical cord with the past completely, I'm all for it.

[tharian]

This should be interesting.

Wonder if there is a new model that is planned or if the present ones are going to be refurbished.
And hopefully the new logo and RE badges will be re-done.

[navin_v8]

Read about this yesterday and thanks Aditya for bringing this up. Looks like RE is feeling the heat from the competitors, God Bless competition

If you guys notice Pierre Terblanche has designed mostly naked bikes barring the Ducati's, RE too builds naked retro classic bikes, so I think there is a connection here. Also my gut feeling says that RE is looking to build a parallel twin motor with a retro classic look. They have learned the game of retro classic appeal and I think will stick to it for now (the Norton design connection is giving me some hints here), but I would be happy if I am proved wrong and they come up with a completely different looking bike with an equally good parallel twin motor .

[B O V]

Yes,Yes and YES!

Finally some good news from RE.Seems like they are starting to feel the heat and will be kickin it into high gear.I'm quite interested to see in what direction they will be goin in.

I feel like its going to be along sport classic/Retros,Mr Pierre Terblanche has also has had some association with Moto Guzzi.

Keepin my fingers crossed for a twin

[grplr02]

alrighty! fingers crossed for a modern Interceptor or Meteor, parallel twin atleast 750cc & more horsepower than 30-odd bhp please! Also maybe a lighter-weight rugged scrambler over 500cc that we can take offroad without parts falling off! No harm in hoping!!!

[Urban_Nomad]

Pierre joins the RE bandwagon with a lot of great credentials. But he is the "new guy". How much he is able to contribute / change would depend on how open RE is to his proposals and more importantly, how his role is viewed / laid out. Will he be a tinkerer or a revolutionary, remains to be seen.

But is he an engine (& other moving parts) designer as well or has he been involved in (predominantly) the eye candy aspect of motorcycle design? If its the latter, then not much is to be expected. REs look plenty pretty. Its the mechanicals where they truly need to shine.

As a start, they can work on the cafe racer and make it hit the elusive ton straight out of the factory

[phamilyman]

This is nonsense - they need to hire production and quality control engineers. Maybe the toyota folks who can put their bikes on a diet (imagine RE's killer looking bikes with toyota / Honda reliability, toyota lightweight etc without waitlists and at good prices - that would be awesome)

[adrian]

Way to go Royal Enfield Hope you people won't disappoint your die hard fans like me with motorcycles with mere face lifts and elevated price tags. Like many others commented, I would also love to see a twin engine (of course with an elevated torque and top speed) with drop dead looks like this Indian

regards adrian

[mehuel]

This is very intriguing, raises too many questions in my head.
Does RE have something like Ducati Paul Smith LE sort of styling in mind?
Or something as radical as Confederate?
Or are they working on the rumoured twin and need a completely new design angel?
Posibilities are limitless with Pierre Terblanche, its well known that his designs ethics could be quite outlandish( be it 999 or Multistrada), and his take on RE ( who are not so conservative anymore eg. Conti ) would be something to look forward to in the coming future.

[prasanna.vps]

I was talking to one of the RE person in their OMR office at Chennai, not so long ago. This was as part of my first service for TB500. I was bemoaning the fact that the new TB that has come out seems cosmetic at best without any proper thought, being a RE person he was trying to defend their choice.

As we discussed along, I brought up the question of a twin maybe a v-twin and he said: "The R&D team is working on a parallel twin"

Much like the interceptor, I guess. Given the new acquisition, I do believe we are in for some exciting times. Fingers crossed!

[BusyBoyKK]

I think RE will resurrect buried Enfield brands. A parallel twin, >600 cc Interceptor / Constellation with retro classic looks. So the choice is Terblanche who some good looking retros.
In a recent interview (with CNBC I think), Siddharatha Lal mentioned that there will be new launches in 2015/2016. He mentioned that they would like to be present in 250-750 cc segment. I think one of the launches will be a lower cc and one will be a higher. That would spread their engine line up.
P.S: Did I also hear about their development center in the US?

[alpha1]

If I was CEO of Enfield, watching Harleys and Triumphs mint money, it would make my mouth water too.

Enfield has already created its cash cows via the heritage, now it just needs to experiment a little with something that offers a more premium badge at slightly lower price than Harley and Triumph. There will be many takers for it - in fact HD may even feel the heat.

[man_of_steel]

Nice move! Hope Mr. Terblanche can bring in some interesting designs to the Enfield machines. Also there are rumours going on about an adventure tourer from Royal Enfield.