INTRODUCTION

The Royal Enfield Bullet was originally a British overhead valve single cylinder four-
stroke motorcycle made by Royal Enfield in Redditch, Worcestershire, now produced by Royal Enfield
Motors, the successor to the British company, at Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in India. The Royal Enfield Bullet
has the longest production run of any motorcycle having remained continuously in production since
1948. The Bullet marquee is even older, and has passed 75 years of continuous production. The Royal
Enfield and Bullet names derive from the company's links with the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield,
London.

The Indian government looked for a suitable motorcycle for its police and army, for patrolling the
country's border. The Royal Enfield Bullet was chosen as the most suitable bike for the job. The Indian
government ordered 800 350 cc model Bullets. In 1955, the Redditch company partnered with Madras
Motors in India to form 'Enfield India' to assemble, under license, the 350 cc Royal
Enfield Bullet motorcycle in Madras (now called Chennai).[13] The tooling was sold to Enfield India so that
they could manufacture components. By 1962, all components were made in India. The Indian Enfield
uses the 1960 engine (with metric bearing sizes), Royal Enfield still makes an essentially similar bike in
the 350 cc and 500 cc models, along with several different models for different market segments.

In 1990, Royal Enfield collaborated with the Eicher Group, an automotive company in India, and merged
with it in 1994. Apart from bikes, Eicher Group is involved in the production and sales of tractors,
commercial vehicles, and automotive gears. Although Royal Enfield experienced difficulties in the 1990s,
and ceased motorcycle production at their Jaipur factory in 2002, by 2013 the company opened a new
primary factory in the Chennai suburb of Oragadam on the strength of increased demand for its
motorcycles. The original factory at Tiruvottiyur became secondary, and continues to produce engines
and some motorcycle models. In 2014 Royal Enfield appointed Pierre Terblanche as the head of new
product design.

In January 2015, the company announced the appointment of Rudratej ‘Rudy’ Singh as President of
Royal Enfield. Singh was previously a Vice President of Unilever in Singapore. Royal Enfield announced
its first takeover of another company in May, 2015 with the purchase of a UK motorcycle design and
manufacturing firm, Harris Performance Products, that had previously developed the chassis of the
Royal Enfield Continental GT Cafe Racer.
Royal Enfield currently sells motorcycles in more than 50 countries. Royal Enfield surpassed Harley-
Davidson in global sales in 2015, and received an acknowledgment from US President Barack Obama as
the guest of honor at the 2015 Delhi Republic Day parade. "I saw the Republic Day daredevils on Royal
Enfield motorcycles, Obama said, adding that "the secret service doesn't let me ride motorcycles,
especially not on my head." He again acknowledged the Border Security Force riders later in the day,
saying "I would, by the way, not drive a motorcycle after watching those incredible acrobats."

In August 2015, Royal Enfield Motors announced it is establishing its North American headquarters and
a dealership in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with the intention to offer three bikes, the Bullet 500, Classic 500
and Continental GT 535 Cafe Racer as they feel this engine size represents an underserved market. The
dealership will be Royal Enfield's first company-owned store in the U.S., according to Rod Copes,
president of Royal Enfield North America. The company wants to establish about 100 dealerships in
American cities starting with Milwaukee.

Later in August 2015, parent-business Eicher announced its entry in Indonesia as a part of its global
strategy in the mid-sized (250-750 cc) motorcycle segment, initially starting retail operations from a
dealership in Jakarta. From April to September, 2015, Royal Enfield's domestic sales were 50% higher
than the previous year, despite a declining motorcycle market in India.

In 2017, Royal Enfield added new variants of the Classic 350 and 500 motorcycles. While the Royal
Enfield Classic 350 gets Gun Grey as a new color option, the Classic 500 will now come in Stealth Black
colour. Royal Enfield has unveiled the 650 cc twin-cylinder engine at the Technology Centre
in Leicestershire, England, on November 2017. This will power the next generation of Royal Enfield
motorcycles. Royal Enfield is going to showcase this at the EICMA (Milan Motorcycle Show), starting
from November 7 in Italy.
 SCOPE OF STUDY
This study will helps to evaluate the present position of Royal Enfield among the existing customers. The
study helps to identify the important reason why youngsters do likes Royal Enfield, which is the most
important feature of Royal Enfield, in which way customers need modification on existing models, how
is the level of customer acceptance in the areas of product and services. And also is there any kind of
dissatisfaction in mind of existing customers and the reason for their dissatisfaction, etc… Simply the
study makes a chance to the firm to delight their customers, ultimately for the existence and earnings in
present corporate competition by way of adjusting their products according to the customer needs, if
necessary and also to know the strength, weakness, opportunity and threat of the product or the firm.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

 To evaluate the attitude of young generation towards Royal Enfield

 To identify the factors influencing in selection of Royal Enfield
 To analyze the problem of Royal Enfield while compared to other Bikes
 To know the influence and impact of competitors
 To study whether there is any change in perception of new generation towards Royal Enfield
 To understand the reasons for change in perception, if any
 To analyze the level of preference for new and old model of Royal Enfield

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
SAMPLE SIZE:

It refers to the number of items to be selected from the universe to constitute a sample. An optimum
sample is one, which fulfills the requirement of efficiency, representative, reliability and flexibility. So
the researcher selected 50 respondents as sample from the population

TOOLS FOR DATA COLLECTION:

Primary data - The collection of data is the primary step in statistical investigation. The primary data was
collected with the help of personal survey by using questionnaire.

Secondary data – the secondary data was collected through internet sources and E book.
 LIMITATIONS
 The sample size is also not so much high as only sample of 50 bullet customer is taken
 Limited time period
 There are various direct and indirect parameters that can be considered for the study, for this
paper only some important parameters were considered
 Present study is restricted to cover only consumer preference on royal Enfield bikes in Thrissur.