AMRITSAR: Royal Enfield, the global leader in the mid-sized (250cc-750cc) motorcycle segment, today launched the new Hunter 350, a ‘two-wheeled double-espresso’ of motorcycling. Engineered and designed for the urban hustle, the new Hunter 350 is a remixed roadster with the character of a Royal Enfield reimagined in a stylish, compact-yet-muscular geometry, that can tackle crowded city streets, suburban backroads and beyond, with aplomb.
As the motorcycling world shifts from the elaborate and complex to a functional and simplistic one that’s high on design ingenuity and self-expression, Royal Enfield tasked itself with building a big city motorcycle that fits perfectly into the planet’s coolest neighbourhoods – from Mumbai to Bangkok, New York to London. A motorcycle that’s refreshingly new but exudes old school cool and retains that essential Royal Enfield DNA. While it took time to distil, the Hunter 350 is that perfect blend – an incredibly joyful, muscular motorcycle that exudes retro-metro style, that packs in all the intense flavours of pure motorcycling and serves them up in a stylish, city-friendly shot of exhilaration.
Speaking about the inspiration behind the Hunter 350, Siddhartha Lal, Managing Director of Eicher Motors Ltd. said, “At Royal Enfield we are closely engaged with our consumers and community. Their desires and aspirations shape the motorcycles we make and we are always looking to create newer experiences and newer formats of pure motorcycling for them. There were always a set of passionate motorcyclists that loved our brand, but did not find the right kind of attitude within our portfolio. The Hunter 350 is for them. It is a motorcycle that combines the strengths of seemingly different species, and brings it together in a super stylish and fun package that is an all new flavour of pure motorcycling with the unmistakable Royal Enfield character.”
The Hunter 350 is distinctly unique within the Royal Enfield line-up. Built on the award-winning 350cc J-series platform, combined with a highly flickable Harris Performance chassis, the Hunter delivers agility without fragility on city streets and sheer, grin-inducing pleasure on the open road.
Commenting on the launch of the Hunter 350, Royal Enfield CEO, B Govindarajan, said, “The Hunter 350 is an outcome of several years of insight gathering and consumer studies from across the world. It is a motorcycle that feels right at home in big metropolises and is exciting for the experienced rider, and easy and accessible for a new rider. Its shorter wheelbase, more compact geometry and lighter weight makes it very nimble and manoeuvrable within the urban context. We are very confident that this new reimagined roadster will usher in a whole new set of global consumers into our world of pure motorcycling.”
Sound, colour, styling, handling, performance - everything about the fleet-footed Hunter 350 is designed to wake you up with an experience like no other.
It comes in two distinct editions - Retro Hunter and Metro Hunter - both finished with on-trend, blacked-out engines and components. The Retro Hunter runs on 17” spoked wheels and has a 300mm front disc brake combined with a 6” rear drum brake, single channel ABS, an uncluttered retro-styled digital-analogue instrument cluster that displays just the right amount of essential information and a choice of two classical, single-colour tanks.
Mark Wells, Royal Enfield’s Chief of Design, said, “It just seemed the most natural thing in the world for Royal Enfield to develop a fun, lighter and more agile 350 roadster. It’s fresh but is still fully Royal Enfield. Every time I look at it, the Hunter gives me a carefree feeling – of being young, jumping on my bike and whizzing off to meet up with mates.”
Aimed at a global audience, the Hunter is available for bookings in India in India starting today, and for test rides and retails starting August 10 2022. Furthermore, the Hunter will be launched across key markets in the Asia Pacific before the end of this year, with Europe and the Americas following in during the first quarter of the next year. The new Hunter 350 will be priced at INR 1, 49, 900/- (ex-showroom, Chennai, India) and at TBH 1, 29, 900/- (incl VAT, Bangkok, Thailand).