Royal Enfield Twinspark Technology

If you think that buying a Royal Enfield Bullet comes with oil leaks, high maintenance costs and unknown reliability, think again, there is
good news.
Royal Enfield Motorcycles, one of the oldest bike companies, has developed a twin-spark technology and has come out with a new engine architecture called unit construction engine (UCE) which is aimed at providing riders better fuel efficiency, higher reliability and lower maintenance costs, while retaining the styling and appeal of a Bullet.
The company has come out with two engine platforms, which are seen as future growth drivers. While UCE 350 cc twin-spark platform has been developed for the domestic market, the UCE 500 cc electric fuel injection (EFI), which is Euro-III compliant, is meant for export markets.
Leading two-wheeler makers TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto have been fighting over ownership of patent for twin-spark technology. Nevertheless, Siddhartha Lal, managing director and chief executive officer, Eicher Motors, said the company examined everything while developing its technology and there is no issue of infringement.
R L Ravichandran, chief executive officer, Royal Enfield, said the development of new engine platforms is part of company’s strategy to boost Bullet’s sales through product quality enhancement and new products.
While the company launched the Thunderbird Twinspark 350 cc, featuring an UCE, on Wednesday for the Indian market, it has already started test marketing the Electra model, featuring UCE 500 EFI, for the overseas markets. Thunderbird Twinspark 350 cc comes with a price tag of Rs 1.03 lakh.
Royal Enfield, a division of Eicher Motors, plans to launch three more models — one for domestic and two for export markets — over the next
two-three years.
Armed with new engine platforms and a few launches in the pipeline, the company expects to maintain a growth rate of 15-20 per cent annually in the coming years.
Royal Enfield sold over 39,000 units, including exports of over 2,500 units in 2007-08, as against 32,000 plus units in 2006-07, despite the slowdown in the two-wheeler industry.
With new UCE 500cc technology, Lal expects huge growth in export markets such as the US, Europe, Japan and Australia. “Traditionally, we have been exporting an Indian bike dressed up for export markets. However, this new UCE 500 cc EFI has been developed specifically to meet customer requirements in export markets,” he added.
Royal Enfield has chalked out an investment budget of Rs 25 crore to scale up its vehicle production capacity to 60,000 units by 2010 from the present 40,000 units a year at its Tiruvottriyur factory near Chennai.