Royal Enfield Continental GT discontinued; low sales or move to make way for new Continental GT 650?

After clocking all-time low sales in the country, a measly three units of bikes in the month of November 2017, Chennai-based niche bike-maker Royal Enfield seems to have come to a conclusion that it is time to withdraw its café racer, the Continental GT, from the Indian market. As these developments unfold, emerging reports indicate that official dealerships of the company are no longer accepting bookings for Continental GT.

While the exact reason remains guarded, rumours suggest that Continental GT will be replaced with the new Continental GT 650, which made its India debut at the Royal Enfield Rider Mania 2017 in Goa in November 2017.

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The café racer Continental GT, which was launched in India with much fanfare, never really took off and the last couple of months have not given any hope of recovery going by the paltry sales. In the month of November, Royal Enfield Continental GT managed to find only three buyers while in October it sold about 26 units. It was almost the identical figures in the previous months as well.

The depleting sales of the café race model could have forced the company to withdraw the model and prepare for the arrival of the new 650 version. Royal Enfield is expected to bring the new Continental GT 650 to India along with the much-awaited Interceptor 650.

The Continental GT cafe racer is powered by a 535cc single-cylinder air-cooled fuel-injected four-stroke engine that can churn out 29bhp at 5,100 rpm and 44 Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm. The engine comes mated to a five-speed gearbox. The GT features a single 300 mm disc brake at the front and 240 mm at the rear, and rides on Pirelli Sport Demon tyres. The cafe racer gets a telescopic suspension up front and Paioli twin gas-charged shock absorbers in the rear.

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The new 650 model of the café racer gets a four-stroke, single overhead cam, air-cooled, 648cc parallel-twin cylinder engine, which can churn out 47bhp and 52Nm torque.

Source: BikeWale