A bunch of Royal Enfield Classic 500 Pegasus owners have taken to Twitter to express their disappointment. Many of them have tweeted directly to Siddhartha Lal and Rudratej Singh, the CEO of Eicher Limited and President of Royal Enfield, respectively. Royal Enfield has now responded to the open letter penned by angry customers.
These owners are complaining of being shortchanged as the recently launched Classic 350 Signals Edition offers more features (dual channel ABS), is pretty similar to the Pegasus 500 in terms of styling, and is also not a limited edition model. Of course, it’s a lot cheaper too, as it’s powered by a smaller 346cc engine.
Responding to the owners, Royal Enfield has released the following statement,
What exactly happened?
On the 27th of July, Royal Enfield launched the Classic 500 Pegasus, a British army-inspired motorcycle limited to only 250 owners in India. It was sold online, on a first-come-first-serve basis, and all 250 units of the motorcycle sold out in less than 3 minutes. Most of the 250 motorcycles are yet to be delivered to the customers who have managed to book online. The Pegasus is powered by the 500cc, unit construction engine, gets disc brakes on both wheels but no ABS. It was priced at Rs. 2.4 lakhs, on-road Delhi.
Enter the Royal Enfield Classic 350 Signals Edition
Just days ago, Royal Enfield launched the Classic 350 Signals edition. It is priced at Rs. 1.8 lakhs, on-road Delhi. While deliveries are yet to begin, the Classic 350 Signals Edition is not a limited edition model. It’s powered by a 350cc, unit construction engine, gets similar styling and accessories as the Pegasus 500 and gets twin disc brakes with dual channel ABS as standard.
Why are some Pegasus owners upset?
1. The Classic 350 is much cheaper (by Rs, 60,000) than the Pegasus 500 but offers dual channel ABS (a key safety feature) as standard.
2. The Royal Enfield Classic 350 Signals Edition, though it features a different paint scheme and slightly different graphics, looks similar to the Pegasus.
3. It’s not a limited edition model, which means that it is not really a unique, one of a kind bike. This, combined with similar styling to the Pegasus 500, makes the latter lose its uniqueness.
Here is a picture tweeted by an owner, showing the similarity between the Pegasus 500 (a bike limited to 250 units in India) and the Classic 350 Signals Edition (a regular production model likely to sell in thousands).
Is this likely to satisfy the disappointed Pegasus owners? We have our doubts.
Here’s the video of the new Signals 350 range
Via Rushlane
Also Read: Royal Enfield responds to ANGRY Classic 500 Pegasus owners about Signals Edition