Royal Enfield continued with
its strategic focus on international markets, strengthening its presence in key
markets like UK, Europe, US and Colombia in 2014. Royal Enfield launched its first
ever exclusive store in London in May 2014 and recreated the historic Top to
Tip ride in UK on Continental GT’s, to mark the launch. Royal Enfield also
participated in several classic events such as the Isle of Man Classic TT in
August and Goodwood Revival festival in September 2014, previewing its despatch
rider inspired gear collection in the latter.
Even in Europe, Royal Enfield showcased its motorcycles and gear at key
auto shows such as INTERMOT in Germany and EICMA in Italy. In addition, Royal Enfield announced KSR
Group as its new distributor in Germany. In France, Royal Enfield participated
at the Wheels and Waves festival in May that draws surfing and motorcycling
enthusiasts across Europe.
In July 2014, Royal Enfield
announced its strategic entry to Colombia with the appointment of the Corbeta
Group as its exclusive distributor and future CKD partner in the country.
Subsequently the product range was launched in November 2014 at the auto show
in Bogota. In US, Royal Enfield organised burn-ups on Continental GTs in New
York and Los Angeles and was also present in the Bonneville Speed week in July
where ace performance tuner Matt Capri, brought two specially modified Continental
GT’s for a burn-up on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Back in India, the biggest
gathering of Royal Enfield riders – Rider Mania 2014, the most definitive
motorcycling festival in India saw participation of over 5000 enthusiasts
across the country.
Towards building a truly
global team, in 2014 Royal Enfield also announced several key hires such as Rod
Copes, President North America, famous motorcycle designer- Pierre Terblanche
and more recently, in Jan 2015, Rudratej Singh, President Royal Enfield.
Commenting on VECV, Siddhartha
said “After three years of the deep downturn, the CV industry seems to have
bottomed out in Q4 of 2014 with early signs of revival seen in a few segments
of the industry. We hope that this trend will strengthen and gain momentum in
coming years. I strongly believe that
VECV is in a good position to take the maximum advantage of this recovery.
During the downturn, VECV
continued to implement its strategic initiatives with full force and as a
result, it is now ready with its Pro series of products for the entire 5-49 ton
category. These products have been developed in full cooperation with Volvo
Group, adopting the relevant Volvo Group technologies. Some of these products
have already been introduced and the remaining will get introduced in 2015. The
customer response to these products has been very positive.”