Why Royal Enfield 500cc bikes discontinued in India

Royal Enfield 500cc engines are no longer manufactured, Royal Enfield Classic 500, Royal Enfield Bullet 500, and Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 will be phased out on March 31, 2020.

However, there was no official justification for the company's actions.

In this post, we'll look at what could be the cause of the 500cc engines' discontinuation.

Shall we?

The Royal Enfield 500cc engines were nearly identical in all three motorcycles; they were 4 stroke single-cylinder engines that produced 27.2 bhp and 41.3 NM of torque, were air-cooled, and used spark ignition.

The 500cc Royal Enfields was not the company's best-selling motorcycles, but they were also not out of the field.

Many Enfield lovers purchased 500cc motorcycles, which performed moderately.

The 500cc Enfields were actually quite nice, and they were also the most inexpensive 500cc motorcycle on the Indian market.

Then followed the Interceptor and Continental GT, both powered by 650cc engines and costing between 2.73 and 3.5 lakh rupees.

Enfield did not offer many options prior to the advent of these 650s. If you want a 500cc bike for under 3 lakh, there was an old Continental GT with a 535cc engine, but it was a cafe racer, so it did not appeal to many buyers in India, so most buyers ended up buying 500cc motorcycles.

The Interceptor 650 and the Continental GT 650 are doing well in the Indian market, and when they first came out in 2018, they made the 500cc Royal Enfield look out of date and unworthy of the money. The Interceptor 650 and the Continental GT 650 were more modern, powerful, and premium looking bikes than the 500s, also in comparison to the 500cc Enfields, they were not overpriced.

The presence of 650s on the market caused a drop in sales of 500cc motorcycles, which were already not the company's best-selling models in India.

According to sources, domestic sales of 500cc motorcycles decreased to more than 16,000 units in April-December 2019, down from 30,000+ units in the preceding months.

One of the main reasons for the discontinuation of these models could be a drop in sales of 500cc powered bikes.

However, the company's backbone and one of the best-selling motorbikes in India is the 350cc segment motorcycles. The 411cc adventure touring bike Himalayan is also doing well, and 500cc Enfiled owners will be able to get servicing and spare parts in the future from the company itself.

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