Back at the end of August, 2022, we got our first official hint that a more powerful Royal Enfield Himalayan is on its way. A 450cc version had been rumored for some time, but a short teaser clip posted by Royal Enfield managing director Siddhartha Lal on Instagram was the strongest indicator yet that all those words weren’t merely wishful thinking.
Although the video didn’t give much in the way of information (it didn’t even include actual audio of the bike), sometimes seeing is all you need to do to believe. Naturally, though, development of a Himalayan 450 leads to wondering what else is in the pipeline. We know that Enfield has ambitious plans for its new model release schedule. Also, no volume-selling OEM in 2022 wants to stick to only putting any given engine into one bike.
With all that in mind, several Indian publications are abuzz with purported glimpses at some of what Enfield has up its sleeve for the next couple of years. For example, Autocar says that it sees five different Himalayan 450 models in various stages of development. The Himalayan 450 is first in line, but other variations include a more off-road-oriented version, a scrambler, a café racer, and of course a naked street bike. There’s no exact timeline, of course—but these seem like fairly reasonable extrapolations.
At EICMA 2022, Royal Enfield officially took the wraps off its Super Meteor 650, which is the most recent case of a machine that was strongly rumored for well over a year finally coming to fruition. It’s also the first new bike to utilize the 650 Twin engine since the Continental GT 650 and INT 650 were introduced a few years back—but it’s probably not the last.
Talk of a potential 650 bobber has been swirling, particularly since the SG650 concept came to light at EICMA 2021. Now, Car and Bike got a peek at some documents that seem to point toward both 650cc and 350cc bobbers somewhere in the pipeline. Given the rate at which Enfield has been introducing new 350cc J-platform models, it’s not at all difficult to believe that a bobber variant could see the light of day sometime soon.
At this point, of course, it’s all speculation—but none of it exactly seems like a reach. While OEM rumors are a normal part of life in motorcycle world, Enfield’s seem to have a particular knack for mostly coming true (see the Super Meteor 650 and Hunter 350, just off the top of our heads). As always, we’ll be sure to share any new information as it comes to light.
