[SandyX]

I can't speak for the next guy but nothing other than a Classic 350 will work for me, irrespective of whichever brands pop up and unleash whatever models they got. It's funny not even the other models in the RE stable would interest me. A motorcycle of that grand ole' styling still being made and selling unbelievably in this day and age is quite the testament to what it holds. I did have my reservations about the previous iterations of 350 motors but the J-series is where everything should be at.

RE has found its spot and nothing short of gross mismanagement could shake it, and anything but that is happening.

[gaurav_3000ad]

I think we need to look at this from a different perspective.

A rising and more aspirational middle class is looking at bikes more as an enjoyment tool. Even those looking for office commutes want to do it in style. Disposable incomes are rising.

What this will lead to is growth in the segment as a whole. So although RE's share in the pie might go down it will be a much bigger pie in the years ahead.

Royal Enfield should continue to do well in the years to come. All I can suggest is to pick up a few shares of eicher while they are going cheap.

[Mr.Ogre]

Five day chart is enough to predict doom for Eicher? Guess what, its bounced back again. Sure, there is competition, but RE hasn't been sitting idle.

I am no RE or Bajaj fan, but I think overall Bajaj, RE, TVS have been trying to stay ahead.

The 650 twins aren't bad by any yardstick. The new 350 cc engines are better and one of the smoothest mills around.

Healthy competition like this is always good for the market. Look at the same Eicher stock after a year.

Bajaj, TVS, Eicher have all appreciated tremendously in the past few years.

[Senotrius]

As long as the Japanese are not serious about the Indian market, RE has nothing to worry about really. Ironically the Indian RE is the one who developed an affordable twin cylinder, mid capacity engine, from scratch despite much lesser resources. The western brands don't understand the VFM thinking of Indian market either. Triumph being an exception due to the current Bajaj involvement.

[paradhak]

Personally, I found 2 things of value and brought both - A triumph speed twin 400 and Eicher motor shares.

[antz.bin]

Originally Posted by gaurav_3000ad

A rising and more aspirational middle class is looking at bikes more as an enjoyment tool. Even those looking for office commutes want to do it in style. Disposable incomes are rising.

Totally agree with this assessment. First this led to the rise of SUVs and now the larger displacement (from the Indian context) motorcycles. All vehicles on the road are faster than they were 15 years ago. I remember that the top selling cars 15 years ago were the Alto(48BHP), Swift(82 BHP) and Innova(100BHP). Safari & Scorpio were 120BHP and the sedans topped out at 118 BHP for the Honda City (funny that one still makes the same power ) Nowadays, the top selling cars are much more powerful than those above.

A few years from now, all these motorcycles will need to be upgraded. Most move on to cars but some go higher on the displacement ladder. This ladder did not exist prior to 2010. The 21BHP 2009 Pulsar 220F was branded as "The Fastest Indian", and it was! Thankfully, it no longer is now and the RE650s make almost the same power as the Alto mentioned above (for approximately the same price. Just imagine the margins!!

In order to commute safely on a motorcycle, it should be going ever so slightly faster than the rest of the traffic (even 5kmph faster is enough).

In order to commute safely in large cities with wide road, flyovers, and ring roads commuter 100/110cc bikes are grossly inadequate. 15-25BHP is the new 100-110cc for Urban India and aspirations continue to grow as shown by the numbers that RE manages to sell for their 20BHP 350s.

Some will upgrade to the KTMs, HDs and Triumphs, but depending on the ownership experience that the 350s gave their lakhs of owners, most will gravitate towards the RE 450s and 650s as long as Electrics don't start kicking the ICE manufacturers down.

[sgmuser]

Just two bikes but will they really shake things in RE? As a potential buyer and in the market for a 400 cc mid size bike, I am not really comfortable to try these new entrants. They are having a great name plates attached to them but they are not from the original owners. I am not sure of their quality and reliability yet. In this case I'll bet on a RE rather. Hero making a Harley and Bajaj making a Triumph doesn't ooze confidence for me. My kind of buyer looks for a trouble free ownership. I will pass these and wait for Himalayan 450 rather - known devil. TVS doing a BMW disappointed me to the core.

[Samarth 619]

Stock falling down doesn't have to mean sales going down. The segment is still growing and RE's anyways are on a good gross margin, so they always have a choice to reduce prices... a choice not all brands have, can't ignore this fact.

Plus, RE's is all about culture that comes with it. They go on official rides and events, way more than KTM's and others. Its not easy to dethrone them. If "Haathi mat Paalo" campaign by Bajaj Dominar wasn't enough, nothing is.
And I'm not a fanboy, in fact, I own and love a Duke 390, but I'm a realist as well.

Stock value represents a lot of traders looking to make a quick buck, plus many sell stocks in cheap just because they overassume that even others will sell the stock inspired by the news. This creates a snowballing fear-effect. Its a very common factor when a news breaks out, nothing new.

Speed 400 maybe not so much, but Harley X440 series and Scrambler 400 are likely to affect RE sales, but RE is surely going to evolve out of this situation.
You only consider an elephant slow, until it starts running towards you, that's all I can say. And RE aren't even trying.
Although, RE bikes are not for me, sorry, never ever.

[Abhi99]

Competition is always good, stronger competition would push for better products. While Enfield is facing some temporary issues, I think they are on the right path. Case in point being -

1. I have seen people buying 650 Twin in rural Iowa. I have even seen one 350 Classic in a remote town. As I completed my MSF course, 2 out of 8 candidates were talking about getting Enfield as their first bike.
All of these got me curious and browsing through the forums - I see lot of positive reviews/ stories about 650 twins here.
Further - this reflects in their growth overseas as well. Their current run rate is around 80K+ Units and have seen a steady growth over the last few years ( This is despite Covid).

2. Harley 400 - is not a real Harley. Its just a Harley branded product, which I dont see establishing itself as the entry/ mid segment option in NA ( cant be sure of Europe). It still got a long way to go and capture at least couple of markets to be sustainable for Harley.

3. Triumph on the other hand may be a real competition - but then the product is new and after sales remains a question.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by paradhak

Personally, I found 2 things of value and brought both - A triumph speed twin 400 and Eicher motor shares.

Brilliant statement!

No point in any of us getting stuck to a brand and defending it/doing free PR work on forums like this; for any brand. Whatever makes sense and vfm, go for it. Once it doesn't, ditch it. Very practical.

Originally Posted by antz.bin

In order to commute safely in large cities with wide road, flyovers, and ring roads commuter 100/110cc bikes are grossly inadequate.

Which city is this?! In Bangalore at least, cc doesn't mean anything, everyone is at <40-50kmph, 70-80% of the time. Which is why scooters sell so well. Agreed that the sales of higher displacement bikes will rise, and aspiration is certainly a factor. But overall, it's still a small segment. Commuter bikes aren't going anywhere.

[337699gsd]

Originally Posted by am1m

Think it's too early to call it.

You’re right. Corrections generally require a trigger and launching of Triumph speed and Harley acted as one for Eicher Motors. The stock was on gradual rise for almost a year after the recent split/bonus thus this correction makes sense.

But as far as eating away RE’s sales is concerned, I don’t think that’s gonna happen. Bajaj Dominar was a great product, marketed as a tourer at par with REs even along with them in the hills. That might have hurt the sales for short term, but we all know how it went for bajaj. Ask any sales guy in a tier 2 city about Doninar and they would simply get out of the conversation about it, let alone selling it. On the other hand, RE have established themselves in tier 2 cities as well.

Now these triump and harley products are still in nascent stages of product cycle to do some real damage to RE. So, I dont think share price actually reflect future decline in RE sales. As they say, market discounts everything! Its done already.

PS - Definitely not a RE fanboy, just my 2 cents

[five46]

A nice take by Rishaad on a trending topic. Somewhat related to this discussion too.

https://youtu.be/TOZJYvUBYTo