Royal Enfield opens UK Technology Centre

Royal Enfield has officially cut the ribbon on its new UK Technology Centre, a glittering new engineering and design facility based at the privately owned Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in the British Midlands.

Working in conjunction with designers and engineers in the marque's base of operations in Chennai (Madras), India, the new facility began operations in May 2017 but was formally opened just ahead of the recent 2017 EICMA motorcycle show in Milan, Italy, where Royal Enfield debuted its new Interceptor 650 Twin and the Continental GT 650 Twin.

Like the Himalayan before them both models are clean-sheet designs, but the 650s have both benefitted from technical and design input from Royal Enfield's British and Indian operations.

Up close and personal
Bikesales.com.au was part of an international media contingent to visit the UK facility and witness the reveal of the new 648cc parallel-twin, before flying to Milan to view the unveiling of the two new models.

The UK Technology Centre is a bespoke facility spread over two floors and 2950 square metres, with a separate motorcycle storage facility. A dedicated dynamometer building for engine an emissions testing – a further 470 square metres – will be completed shortly.

Royal Enfield initially looked at converting an existing building for its Technology Centre, before deciding to create a purpose-built site. Ground was first broken at Bruntingthorpe in March, 2016. While Royal Enfield hasn't attached a value to the UK investment, it did spend a total of $US130 million ($A171 million) on capital expenditure in 2016.

The decision to base the centre at the Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground is a strategic one. Not only does it afford space and privacy, it also gives Royal Enfield engineers access to the nearby runway and closed circuit for testing purposes.

Perhaps best known these days as the site of the time trial circuit for defunct BBC program, Top Gear, the proving ground is utilised for all manner of military and civil automotive testing in the UK, with a wide array of vehicles taking to the 6.4-kilometre track. The circuit also takes in Bruntingthorpe's 60-metre wide runway, whose 3.2-kilometre straight allows any machine to reach its terminal velocity.

The site was established in 1942 as an airfield for the United States Air Force, with the runway extended for long-range bombers in the 1950s. It's been a civilian facility since 1972.

Centre of excellence
Royal Enfield's Technology Centre already employs around 125 staff, with a number of those having defected from Triumph's production base in nearby Hinckley. Under the watchful eyes of former Triumph product chief Simon Warburton, now Royal Enfield's Head – Product Development, and Mark Wells, Royal Enfield's Head – Product Strategy and Industrial Design, the centre comprises a modern office, industrial design studio, an engine, electrics and chassis build department, a spray shop, a model shop, and a metalwork and parts store.

The centre is kitted out with all the latest cutting-edge technology in industrial design and automotive engineering, including 3D printers, CAD software, and fully equipped workshops with numerous bays fitted with recessed hydraulic lifts and underfloor exhaust venting.

While the tinted glass-clad façade is thoroughly moderns, likewise the appointments throughout the centre, the two-storey-high foyer first gives visitors a snapshot of Royal Enfield's rich history, courtesy of a vertical-stack display of notable models from the brand's past.

Once inside, however, the walk down memory lane rapidly makes way for modernity – and a facility that wants for nothing in terms of 21st century automotive R&D.

Royal Enfield has grown exponentially in recent years – in fact company CEO, Siddartha Lal, says production has grown 16-fold, from 50,000 units in 2010 to over 800,000 in 2017 – and the new UK Technology Centre will assist the brand as it targets its objective of world domination of the middleweight motorcycle category.

"We started very small but we've been growing our engineering base over the last few years," he said.

"The UK Technology Centre is one part of that and it's a very important part – it's our lead centre that has our head of product development, the head of chassis, the head of engine development, program management – they all sit here, but work seamlessly with India."

Work is also underway on a brand new Technology Centre in Chennai, India. Scheduled to open in October 2018, it will be four to five times to size of the UK facility, but will continue to work hand in hand with the British side of the operation.

Expansion plans
The President of Royal Enfield, Rudratej Singh, said ramping up the firm's technical expertise was key to maintaining ongoing growth.

"We are building capability – we are building people capability and technology capability, because that will pull us away from the rest very clearly in the automotive industry," he said.

"We are already there but we can be much further. We are investing heavily in our understanding and learning, before we start earning."

Mr Warburton said the new UK centre underlined a major shift away from the consultancy work on which Royal Enfield had previously relied.

"We decided about four years ago that we had to develop our range and upgrade our bikes, and to do that we recognised that we really had to build our capability in product development," he said.

"Part of that was changing our philosophy; previously we had worked with a lot of external consultants, but we decided we had to bring that capability, that expertise in – in our engine design, in our chassis design, in our analysis and all the way through – so over the last four years that's what we've been doing.

"Of course part of that has also been bringing in Harris Performance, which has been working on chassis design for us for the last three years."

Mr Warburton, who previously served as Triumph's Product Manager for nearly nine years, said it had been a privilege to oversee the creation of Royal Enfield's UK Technology Centre.

"It's been an incredibly rare opportunity to build this place from scratch, and indeed to build this team," he said.

Exciting future
Mr Lal said Royal Enfield was thrilled with the outcome of its UK investment.

"This – where we are now – was not a given," he said.

"Sometimes this kind of thing doesn't work – it doesn't take off, you don't get the right people, the cultural differences between India and in this case the UK could have derailed us entirely. But we're here now and we have a good organisation and team that is so synchronised, it feels like we've been doing this for a very long time.

"It's quite seamless and I think that really gives us a lot of energy. We've built a culture here that allows people to do what they're really good at."