The dramatic history of Royal Enfield

It’s quite a drama when you think about it: Royal Enfield became an English pioneer in powered vehicles when Queen Victoria was still alive (just), went through two world wars, moved to India, had a couple of financially sticky moments, revitalised under new ownership (still in India) and moved some of its operations back to the UK.

In 2023, it hit a new motorcycle production record of 920,000 units. Motorcycling is a notoriously tough business in which to succeed in and, even by those standards, Royal Enfield’s journey is remarkable.

The firm’s history goes back into the 1850s, however the Royal Enfield name first appeared when the parent company won contracts to make firearm components for the Royal Small Arms Factory in the mid-1890s. It was a relationship that had a lasting impact on the marque’s identity, which to this day still uses the ‘Made like a gun’ trademark.

It was 1901 when the crew first dabbled with the idea of a Minerva 211cc engine mounted in a bicycle frame. It must have worked, as that same year they would sell you a rolling chassis powered by proprietary engines, with a choice between Swiss-made MAG or British-made JAP singles of around 250cc capacity.

The bikes and their powerplants became more sophisticated, with 297cc then 344cc V-twin MAG engines making an appearance by 1910. Just two years later, you could buy the Model 180, designed to haul a sidecar, with a thumping great 770cc JAP engine doing the honours.

However, the company inevitably wanted to design and build its own engines. That landmark was achieved in 1913 with the launch of its own 425cc inlet-over-exhaust V-twin which boasted an automatic oil-pumping system – cutting-edge stuff for the day. More home-grown powerplants quickly followed, including four- and two-stroke singles.

It’s between the world wars that the company’s most famous model emerged: the Bullet series. Unveiled in 1930, with sales starting the following year, you initially had the choice between 350 or 500 singles with a 250 to follow. Designed by Ted Pardoe, they were the start of a dynasty that, in 350 form with a much changed powerplant, remains in production today.

Post-war development saw the Bullets receive some much-needed updates, including to the chassis and engines, and in 1949 achieve a look which seemed virtually unchanged until well into the 21st century.

Those looks were shared by another new model, a 500 twin (called simply the 500 Twin…) designed to compete with Triumph. It was to later become the Meteor Minor

It was really through the 1950s and 1960s that Royal Enfield hit its stride as an innovative maker with a full range of machinery. By now the company was settling into single or parallel twin four-strokes as its main bread-and-butter.

For example, in 1960 you could wander into a well-stocked showroom and expect to see the 250 Crusader and Clipper, the diminutive 150cc two-stroke Prince, the 350 and 500 Bullets, a 350 Clipper, the Meteor Minor 500 twin, plus the big Meteor and Super Meteor 700 twins. In a couple of years (1962) you could wander back and ogle the king of the Enfield twins, the 736cc Interceptor.

While all this was going on, the company’s post-war Bullet 350 opened up a whole new line of business, in India. Two gentleman named KR Sundaram and his nephew K Eswaran had started up a business called Madras Motors which imported Enfield and other British brands. In 1953, they were approached by the Indian army to supply a fleet of 800 Bullet 350s.

Enfield of course complied and the assembly of the fleet as seen as important enough for Sundaram to visit the Redditch works in the UK to check on progress.

Like many governments of the time, India’s had a policy encouraging local manufacture and it was suggested to Madras Motors that, if they wanted more orders, they should look at organising local content. Of course the company jumped at the chance, starting with importing complete knock-down kits for local assembly and then gradually organising local manufacture of some components.

Madras Motors registered Enfield India in 1955 and began manufacturing under licence that year. The Indian-assembled machines were well-accepted and grew into a significant business.

However, despite the burgeoning export success, in other areas Royal Enfield was suffering a similar fate to its British colleagues. They were finding the growing competition from Japanese makers, along with some questionable strategic decisions, saw profits dwindle and eventually slip into the red.

For Enfield this meant the main business being broken up and sold in 1967, with volume manufacturing effectively ceasing. The spares business was sold off, while the remaining rights and intellectual capital for the Bullets went to Enfield India.

A modest English manufacturing effort continued at the former war-time centre of Stratford on Avon, for models such as the Interceptor. However this too fell over in 1970.

In the meantime, Bullet production in India continued apace under the Enfield brand (no ‘Royal’, for a while) and the company was successful enough to start exporting bikes back to the UK and other former markets. Though volumes were fairly modest, it was a wonderful selling-coal-to-Newcastle story.

Perhaps ironically, and almost inevitably, a change of mood and policy by the Indian government meant the motorcycle market was opened up to greater competition, most notably from rival Japanese marques. Enfield found the going pretty tough by the 1990s and by 1994 merged with the large Eicher automotive group.

That merger was critical for the company’s survival, with an injection of new management.

In 2013 we saw another major turning point. Royal Enfield had clawed back its full name and launched the Continental GT 535 single. Now while the bike itself was never a massive seller, it represented the company claiming back its own history.

The sweet-looking café racer harked back to the 250 Continental GT of the 1960s. Not only was the new model very English in its styling roots, but the chassis was designed in collaboration with Harris Engineering in the UK. And the international launch? It was based at Brooklands in the UK, visiting a host of very English highlights including the London School of Design, Brighton Pier and even the site of the old Redditch factory.

In short order, Harris was bought by Royal Enfield, which since then has established a significant design and development centre in the UK. Much of this has been driven by CEO Siddhartha Lal, scion of the family that owns Eicher, and an enthusiastic rider with engineering qualifications.

While Enfield dealt with challenges in its home market, it expanded the reach of its offerings. By 2016 we got to see the Himalayan 411, a simple and lightweight single with adventure touring potential. That model underwent a major upgrade in the shape of a redesigned 450 for 2022-on in the domestic market and more recently in Australia.

In 2018 we got to play with the range the road market had good reason to anticipate, the 650 twins that started out with the Interceptor and Continental GT. We’re of course seeing more variants being rolled out.

Perhaps sadly, we finally got to see the Bullet 500 sign off in 2020, however the 350 siblings are very much alive and well.

In recent years we've witnessed the arrival of the Super Meteor 650 and Shotgun 650, as well as a new-generation Himalayan 450 and the all-new Guerrilla 450. And Royal Enfield has hinted at many more exciting models in the pipeline.

What distinguishes the current range is value-for-money packaging combined with fun and well-engineered models. You’d like to think the good folk from the old Redditch factory would approve…