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| It would appear the historic Vincent-HRD marque is hurtling towards India! |
In shocking news today, it appears Eicher Motors Limited, owners of the Royal Enfield brand, have claimed Vincent-HRD as their own, and plan to manufacture new Vincents in one year. A bit of back story: Matt Holder of Birmingham purchased the names and rights of the Royal Enfield, Velocette, Scott, and Vincent-HRD marques at their bankruptcy sales, over the decades-long decay of the British motorcycle industry from the 1950s-70s. The Holder family, with their HQ in a form er Triumph warehouse in Meriden (the last Triumph factory building still standing), have kept these machines on the road by their continued manufacture and distribution of spares. When Enfield India, which had been selling Enfields since it licensed the Bullet design in the 1950s, decided it would prefer its Royal back in 1994, they snookered the Holder family out of the right to the Royal Enfield name, using a team of lawyers to argue, successfully, that the Holders werent actually trading under the Royal Enfield name. Hence, Royal Enfields are now made in India: read the court decision here.
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| The latest model Bullet from Royal Enfield, the 2015 Sideburner, co-designed with Gary Inman of Sideburn magazine, and Nico Sclater of Ornamental Conifer, who is rumored to have already moved to Madras to head up Cosmetics at Eicher Motors Ltd. |
Now, the ever-growing Madras factory, owned by Eicher Motors Ltd, has reached across the waters to Birmingham once again, claiming the name Vincent-HRD as its own, and announcing its intentions to produce a new V-Twin to rival all others.
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| Siddhartha Lal, MD of Eicher Motors Ltd, and now the Vincent marque |
Siddhartha Lal, the Managing Director of Eicher Motors Ltd, explained, "the only reason to revive the Vincent marque, with all its amazing history and legendary riders like Rollie Free, is to make the fastest motorcycle in the world, once again. We have the money, the design talent, and the facilities to do just that. Our in-house industrial designers got their degrees at MIT and Cal Tech, and have come up with the latest generation of engines and chassis, which we will reveal in one year; April 1st, 2015, and the all-new the Vincent Black Rapier."
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| In a Vintagent.com exclusive, I can reveal that the new Vincent Black Rapier will be based on the remarkable Bernard Li design of 1994, using a supercharged engine co-designed by Lamborghini. |
(thanks to the Egli-Vincent.com for alerting me to this startling news)
