Enfield motorbike company has suspended the booking for the bikes since the wait time exceeded six months. The delivery of Royal Enfield Classic 500 was made after a wait of two months. The company has resorted to this extreme of suspending the booking for Classic 350 model. The craze for the premium bikes in India is on the ever rise and Enfield is one such company to be highly benefitted. Enfield’s 500cc bike was launched in Europe and the US markets some 1 and a half year prior to the launch in India.
The bookings for Classic 350 got some 2000 numbers, a volume greater than the company sought. Nearly 300 customers have booked for the Classic 500. Both these numbers made Enfield to suspend the bookings, which will be in effect till the end of 2010. However, customers can book for Classic 500 [images] on the agreement of delivery period of 6 months. The booking might resume after the existing orders have been properly delivered. The facility at Thiruvottiyur in Tamilnadu has the capacity of making 300 motorcycles per month, to meet the domestic demand. 350 bikes are manufactured for the export markets of Europe and the US.
Given the demand, Enfield plans to increase its capacity to 1 lakh units before 2012 from the current 60000units (a growth of 67%). More secured for prompt delivery, the company has increased the dealer number to 160 spread over India. The company is steadily coordinating the infrastructure, manpower and processes for enhanced production. The projection of superbikes in India, as evinced by Suzuki and Honda, accounts for 350 units per year, but the trend indicates the number near 500 units. Suspending the bookings for vehicles is quite a common practice in the auto market, for instance from Toyota Kirloskar done for its Fortuner SUV. This car got some 5000 units during the first month of its launch.