It's confirmed: Royal Enfield will be developing a 650cc Himalayan with a tentative launch within the next two years.
Sources in India claim that the project began about 18 months ago, as RE was developing its 650cc platform and its twin products, the Continental GT and Interceptor.
At the time, the Himalayan was not considered during the initial development of the company's 650cc platform. The company believed that the newly-developed 650 engines would be difficult to use in an adventure bike paltform.
However, the company was also aware of the Himalayan's very poor highway performance. As such, a call for a true middleweight adventure bike that could perform more satisfactorily on the highway has pushed Royal Enfield to proceed with the development of the 650cc Himalayan.
Softroader
Sources claim that the upcoming 650 Himalayan will be available in two variants. One will be road focused, possibly, donning 17" tires for both the front and rear. The other is dual-sport but will still focus on adventure-touring rather than a "built for all roads, built for no roads" kind of bike like the 411cc Himalayan.
In terms if bike features, the upcoming 650 Himalayan will be fitted with a full-TFT screen with Bluetooth connectivity, dual channel ABS, and possibly, a traction control system.
Estimated SRP will be around INR 450,000 or rougly PHP 304,000.
