Vimal Sumbly joins Royal Enfield from Triumph Motorcycles India

Royal Enfield has appointed Mr. Vimal Sumbly (former Managing Director of Triumph Motorcycles in India) as Head of Asia-Pacific region. He is the man behind the huge success of the British Motorcycle brand “Triumph” in India. Before Triumph, Sumbly had helped establish the KTM and Bajaj Pro-biking brands in the Indian market as part of Bajaj Auto subsidiaries.

Royal Enfield is planning to target the global markets in the premium motorcycle segment. The company has already appointed Shubranshu Singh (Star Sports) as their head of the branding for Royal Enfield and Simon Warburton (former Triumph UK’s Head of Design) as the head of product development for the company. Vimal Sumbly is the third important person in this list. The company thinks these people can contribute towards the global reach of the brand in the premium motorcycle segment.

Royal Enfield sells around 70,000 motorcycles per month (domestic and global exports). The company sells around 1800 units globally, and now Mr. Sumbly has a real challenge at hand to boost sales. Mr. Sumbly is expected to play a major role in establishing the Royal Enfield brand in the Asia-Pacific region, where big brands like Triumph and Harley-Davidson are already quite strong. Currently, Royal Enfield has presence is Asian markets such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia etc. Mr. Sumbly will be based in Gurugram for a few months before moving to Thailand to head the Asia-Pacific operations.

Royal Enfield is all set to launch the 650 twins globally this month, with the Indian launch lined up for November 2018. Recently, Royal Enfield announced new models for the global markets. The company also confirmed that the Continental GT 650 and the Interceptor 650 will not be the only motorcycles with big engines. Royal Enfield is planning to take on global rivals like Triumph and Harley-Davidson in segments up to 1200cc.