Royal Enfield Gets New CEO, Former Ashok Leyland CEO Vinod Dasari to Take Charge

• Published On: 28 June 2019
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Eicher Motors Limited appoints Vinod Dasari as the CEO of its bike making unit Royal Enfield.

In a major change in the top brass of the company, Eicher Motors Limited has just appointed Vinod Dasari as the CEO of its bike making unit Royal Enfield. Before joining the retro bike maker in the capacity of CEO, Vinod Dasari served as the CEO of the truck maker Ashok Leyland. Apart from the top spot in the brand Royal Enfield, Dasari will also now be a part of the board of Eicher Motors Limited in the capacity of Executive Director while the Managing Director post will still be occupied by Siddhartha Lal. Not just Ashok Leyland, Dasari has also worked in several other notable companies in the past that include Cummins India Limited, Timken, and General Electric.

After appointing Vinod Dasari as the new CEO for Royal Enfield, the Managing Director for Eicher Motor Limited, Siddhartha Lal said,

After a phenomenal success story in the last decade, Royal Enfield is now building the foundations of its next level of growth. As we commence another exciting chapter, I believe, there is no better person than Vinod Dasari to lead Royal Enfield into its next phase of evolution to a global brand. Vinod is a proven leader who combines business vision and people skills. He has been a catalyst in reviving the fortunes of his previous company and re-shaping the dynamics of a hitherto slow-moving industry. Vinod’s fearless entrepreneurial leadership, experience of managing complex businesses globally, deep understanding of customers and his vision of how digital technology will be used and experienced around the world are precisely the qualities that Royal Enfield needs as it aspires to lead and   catalyze the global motorcycling industry towards middle weights (250-750cc).

Royal Enfield’s recent launches of Interceptor 650 and the Continental GT 650 have not only marked the brand introducing a twin-cylinder and significantly expensive product in the market, the new bikes have also found considerable success in the Indian market. Now the brand is currently working toward making its entire product line-up compliant to the new BS-VI emission norms that will be enforced in the country from April 2020. The brand has already stated that it will bring no new motorcycle to the market till the time the entire model line-up of the company will comply with the upcoming BS-VI regime.

The majority of the model line-up of the retro bike maker is built on the UCE platform that was introduced way back in 2008. In these 11 years, there has been no significant change in the platform. Now as the brand is testing the BS6 compliant models of two of its best-selling models -- Classic and Thunderbird – one can expect reworked engine, suspension, chassis and braking in the newer version of the bikes. This would also mean changing a lot of things in the UCE platform. The company will aim to better the model line-up on all aspects with these changes. Better ride quality, comfort, and boost in mileage and reliability are some of the things one can expect to find on the updated versions of Royal Enfield models that will comply with BS-Vi norms.