A little over two months since it was first launched, the new Royal Enfield Himalayan has received its first price hike. The magnitude of the increase ranges from Rs 14,000 to Rs 16,000, which is a rather steep hike. In fact, the bike now starts at Rs 2.85 lakh, meaning that the starting price is now higher than the earlier price of the top-most colour option.
The entry-level Kaza Brown colour option, which was earlier priced at Rs 2.69 lakh, now costs Rs 2.85 lakh. The top-spec Hanle Black, which used to cost Rs 2.84 lakh, has now gone all the way up to Rs 2.98 lakh, so the next price hike will almost certainly take the Himalayan past the Rs 3 lakh mark. Though the new prices aren't yet reflecting on the Himalayan's landing page on RE's website, they do show up in the bike's online configurator.
As far as the competition is concerned, the Himalayan is now considerably more expensive than the Rs 2.63 lakh Triumph Scrambler 400 X, but it’s more feature-rich than the Triumph as well. It’s still a good deal more affordable than its most direct rival, the Rs 3.61 lakh KTM 390 Adventure.
Such a sharp price hike this early on in the model's life cycle seems to suggest that Royal Enfield is seeing healthy demand for the new Himalayan. The bike itself remains completely unchanged, so it’s still powered by RE’s first liquid-cooled motor - the new Sherpa 450 engine that measures 452cc and produces 40hp and 40Nm. Our time riding the new Himalayan has revealed the chassis package to be the real highlight of the bike, and you can check out our full review of the motorcycle here.
Ved Janve
Vishal Venugopal
Dinshaw Magol
