Royal Enfield has announced its entry into South Korea, with Vintage Motors (Kiheung International) as its official distributor-partner in the country. The iconic British motorcycle manufacturer arrives in Korea with its first flagship store in Seoul at Hannam-daero 42-gil, commencing its full operation, including after sales, spares and service. This strategic announcement is in line with Royal Enfield's focused international thrust of leading and expanding the global mid-sized motorcycle segment (250-750cc). The brand launch press conference was addressed by Vimal Sumbly, APAC Business Head and Pablo Lee Junior- Chief Executive Officer, Kehung Motors.
Commenting on the launch of Royal Enfield at the exclusive store in Korea, Vimal Sumbly, APAC Business Head, said, "Our focus is to sustain and expand our reach in International markets especially in Asia pacific region. Royal Enfield has seen consistent growth in the APAC region with a 20% year-on-year growth. Korea is an important chapter in the growth story and we are thrilled to commence business here. We fully committed to focus all our energies on becoming part of the fabric of this country's rich motorcycling culture."
Commenting on his plans for the market, Pablo Lee Jr., CEO of Kiheung Motors, said, "We are honoured to partner with Royal Enfield and bring their passion for motorcycling to customers across Korea. Royal Enfield motorcycles will offer Korean two wheeler riders an opportunity to upgrade to a robust long-distance, leisure riding culture with its modern-classics machines, that are brilliant for long rides on the highway at the same time perfect to commute in heavy traffic in the city".
Royal Enfield enters South Korea, with line-up of three of its widely popular models featuring single-cylinder engines currently up to 500 cc: the Bullet (500cc), the Classic (500c), and the Himalayan (410cc).
Royal Enfield, born in 1901 in the city of Redditch, UK has challenged the conventions of the motorcycle industry for more than a century. With a strong British legacy of 118 years that includes two world wars, manufacturing the oldest motorcycle in continuous production - the Bullet, and being on the forefront during the best years of British automobile and motorcycling history, made its journey from U.K. to India in 1950's where it is currently manufactured. Today, Royal Enfield is one of the fastest growing motorcycle brands in the world and one of the leading players in the mid-size motorcycle segment (250cc-750cc) globally, is now a division of publicly traded Eicher Motors Limited (EICHERMOT), in India.
Royal Enfield has grown consistently and profitably in the last decade from selling 50,000 motorcycles annually in 2010 to selling 826,000+ units in 2018, with a 16 folds growth.
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