Royal Enfield Names Rod Copes President, North America

By Press Release
Published on August 11, 2014
article image

New Delhi/ Milwaukee, August 5, 2014: Royal Enfield, the world’s oldest motorcycle brand in continuous production and the world’s fastest growing motorcycle manufacturer, has named industry-veteran Rod Copes as President, North America. Rod will be responsible for driving Royal Enfield’s businesses in the United States and Canada. By naming Copes to a top-level executive position, Royal Enfield has firmly stated its intentions to rapidly expand the brand in the U.S., its top export market.

Welcoming Rod, Siddhartha Lal, MD & CEO Eicher Motors Ltd said, “Rod comes to us with a rich worldwide experience of more than 20 years in the motorcycle industry. His in-depth understanding of the North American markets and marquee brands will be vital for Royal Enfield. U.S.A is an important market for us as we aspire to become the leader in the global mid-sized motorcycle industry. We realise that the mid-sized motorcycle market is underserved and opportunities are immense on this continent. I welcome Rod to the Royal Enfield family and wish him a long a fruitful association with the company.

Copes previously worked with Harley-Davidson for nearly 20 years, most recently as Head of Global Sales and Customer Service. He was responsible for growing the company’s businesses across four global sales regions and three product categories: motorcycles, Parts & Accessories and General Merchandise. He spearheaded the brand’s geographic expansion across emerging markets and established offices in locations such as Singapore, Miami (Latin America), New Delhi, Moscow, Dubai, Saul Paulo, Shanghai, Prague, Athens and Seoul. Rod, who holds both a Master’s degree in Engineering and an MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, left Harley-Davidson in late 2012 to follow his passion and entrepreneurial spirit of working with smaller companies and new ventures.

Copes is also active in several industry associations and business forums like the World Trade Center Wisconsin’s International Business Roundtable, India Business Council, and UW-Milwaukee’s International Business Center. He is currently on the Industrial Advisory Boards for University of Wisconsin – Madison’s Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Wisconsin – Madison’s MBA Operations and Technology Management Program, and the President’s Advisory Council for Carroll University. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Hunger Task Force from 2006-2012.

Comments (0) Join others in the discussion!
    Online Store Logo
    Need Help? Call 1-800-880-7567