Royal Enfield workers strike again: What happens to Interceptor/Continental GT India launches?

Workers at Royal Enfield’s production facilities in Tamil Nadu have gone on strike once again. With Royal Enfield already suffering from a production loss of over 10,000 units due to striking workers, allowing these current strikes to continue could delay the launch of the new 650 twins – Interceptor and Continental GT in India.

According to ET Auto, the strikes at the Royal Enfield production plants in Tamil Nadu are due to the fact that the company has banned cell phones from the facilities due to security reasons.

However, if Royal Enfield and its workers do not reach an agreement to end the strikes, the production loss could force a delay in the launch of the new Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 in India well past the current end of 2018 plan and into the new year, which is something that fans and customers of the brand will certainly not appreciate. The strikes could also cause delays in the delivery of bikes to international markets like the United States, where the two motorcycles were launched last month, which in turn could seriously damage the reputation of the brand in Harley-Davidson’s backyard, something it cannot afford.

The Interceptor 650 and the Continental GT 650 were launched late last month and see the return of the Royal Enfield brand into the world of twin-cylinder after a long hiatus. The new motorcycles are powered by an all-new 648 cc twin-single cylinder overhead cam engine that produces 48 bhp at 7,100 rpm and 52 Nm of peak torque at 5,250 rpm. The oil-cooled engine is paired with a brand new 6-speed gearbox with a slipper clutch as standard, both of which are firsts for Royal Enfield.

The two new Enfields are the most powerful models produced by Royal Enfield since its move to India and are capable of cruising at triple digit speeds, which has really cheered up fans of the brand in international markets.

Let’s hope that the current issue with the strike at the Royal Enfield plants will be quickly resolved, otherwise fans of the new twins from India’s favourite cruiser motorcycle manufacturer will have to wait to get their new dream bikes for quite a while longer.