Royal Enfield to invest Rs 700 crore in 2019-20

New Delhi: Eicher Motors on Monday announced Rs 700 crore capital expenditure plan for Royal Enfield in the current financial year.

The capex will be used for the construction work of the Technology Centre, Phase-2 of the Vallam Vadagal plant in Tamil Nadu and towards the development of new platforms and products. Also, for 2019-20, Royal Enfield plans a production of 9,50,000 motorcycles, Eicher Motors said in a statement.

"This year Royal Enfield will focus on the upcoming transition to the BS-VI emission norms along with strengthening our product development capabilities and working towards new global platforms," Eicher Motors MD & CEO Siddhartha Lal said.

The second phase of our Vallam Vadagal plant near Chennai, Tamil Nadu is progressing well and is expected to commence commercial production in the second half of this financial year. The construction of the Technology Centre in Chennai is also nearing its completion, he added.

"With a wide distribution network in India, growing international presence and building state-of-the-art capabilities in product development, Royal Enfield is well on its way to grow the middleweight motorcycle segment globally in the coming years," Lal said.

In FY 2018-19, Royal Enfield announced formation of its wholly-owned subsidiary in Thailand. To further strengthen its presence in the ASEAN region, it recently announced its upcoming assembly operations in Thailand, its first outside of India.

The initial response to Royal Enfield in the ASEAN region, which is one of the largest two-wheeler markets, has been very encouraging, Eicher Motors said in the statement.

With the upcoming assembly operations expected to come onstream in H1 FY2019-20 and plans to further expand dealer presence in the region, Royal Enfield is well poised to fill the gap in the mid-sized segment in the region, it added.