After trademarking ‘Hunter’, Royal Enfield now looks set to revive the ‘Sherpa’ nameplate. The Chennai-based manufacturer has recently registered the said name for the Indian market. Interestingly, this is not the first time that Royal Enfield would be using this name as Sherpa was a small displacement motorcycle in the company’s line up during the 1960s. In order to be precise, the Royal Enfield Sherpa used to come with a 173cc engine and the bike was later modified and renamed to Crusader in 1970. In terms of styling and appearance, Royal Enfield Sherpa used to have an old-school street cruiser styling and from some angles, the bike resembles the Bullet that proudly exists in the brand’s line up even today. While it is not confirmed at the moment as to what kind of motorcycle will get the Sherpa name, there is a healthy possibility that the company will be using the said name for launching a similar kind of a bike only. Interceptor being the recent and possibly the best example.
Also, adding the fact that the company will be coming soon with a new small capacity motorcycle in order to make the brand more accessible to the masses. All this brings a high possibility that Royal Enfield could be using the name Sherpa for its upcoming volume churner. While details regarding the motorcycle are not available at the moment, you can expect it to come with simplistic retro styling and possibly design cues from the original Sherpa as well. In terms of features too, the bike would get only the basic equipment including an all-analog instrument cluster showing only the necessary information.
Anything more would be too early to say at the moment and we will have to wait for some additional information before coming to the final judgement as to what the Sherpa could be. Not only this, but Royal Enfield also trademarked two more names – Meteor and Explorer a few weeks back hinting that multiple motorcycles with different body styles could be in the making. Royal Enfield currently has over 800 dealerships in India and has presence in numerous global markets. Launched in November 2018, the 650 twins have been doing an impressive job for the brand with 1,027 units sold in the month of November 2019. On the other hand, the Classic 350 continues to be the best-seller for the brand with 35,951 unit sales last month.
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