500cc Royal Enfield Classic Series Discontinued: As expected, Royal Enfield has officially discontinued the 500cc Classic motorcycle series and has also removed the same from the brand’s official website. Royal Enfield used to retail five variants of the Classic 500 in the Indian market which include Standard, Squadron Blue, Stealth Black, Desert Storm, and the Chrom Edition.
As per the reports, Royal Enfield has not been able to meet the exact sales requirements in the Indian market and making the 500cc engine compliant with the upcoming BS6 emission norms was not a viable option. The cost of conversion of the engine according to the new emission norms will reach sky high while the sales have always been minimal and decreasing by the day. Thus the brand has decided to bid goodbye to the 500cc Classic series before the implementation of the new emission norms in India.
Given their weaker demand in the Indian market, updating the 500cc Royal Enfield Classic series with BS6 norms would have been one of the futile steps taken by the brand. Royal Enfield has only been able to register a three-times growth in the market for their 500cc motorcycles with a total of 36,093 units sold in FY19 as compared to the 12,216 units sold in FY13.
On the other hand, the growth for the 350cc variants of the motorcycles has seen a jump of around seven times by registering 7,64,012 units in FY19 when compared to the 1,08,478 units sold in FY13.
The brand has also witnessed a gradual decline in the sales of 500cc motorcycles after the launch of 650 twins, which features more powerful engines and are available at affordable prices considering their optimum performance.
