New Delhi: Royal Enfield officials have revealed that the production of RE 450cc platform motorcycles has been disrupted temporarily due to the supply issues with rare earth elements from China during the April-June timeframe. The company also stated that the production has been stabilised now with the use of alternative materials that are unspecified.
Eicher Motors MD and Royal Enfield CEO B Govindarajan on Thursday told investors that they had a shortage of rare earth magnet supply for the 450cc platform, which disrupted production. He explained that since the rare earth materials were being used in performance platforms for gear sensors, alternators and other such things, production needed to be halted.
Data by SIAM showed that production of the 450cc models, Guerrilla 450, Himalayan 450 and Scram was reduced to 3,836 units in June from 6,568 units in June 2024.
Although known mostly for use in electric vehicle motors, rare earth elements are also important in ICE vehicles, in order to power auxiliary electric systems and sensors. Govindarajan noted that while Scram wasn’t available as well as 450 Guerrilla, the production is back to normal. He concluded that the company had predicted such a scenario and hence had managed to come back to production at this point.
The supply constraint for magnets comes at a time when Royal Enfield is preparing to launch their first electric motorcycle under the Flying Flea brand towards the cling part of the current financial year. At present, most EV makers are trying to find a way to bypass rare earth supply bottlenecks that impact their production output.