Aprilia To Take On KTM, Suzuki and Honda In 250-300cc Motorcycle Segment

Aprilia grabbed everyone’s attention at the last Auto Expo by showcasing two very unique bikes -  Aprilia RS 150 and Tuono 150. Unfortunately, a few months down the line, the brand scrapped all plans of bringing these bikes to India stating it wasn’t happy with the way the motorcycles turned out and wanted to offer more in terms of performance and premiumness. It’s just the way the Italian bike maker rolls. To top it off, Piaggio Group, in a recent interview with Economic Times, expressed that the company had plans of bringing in bigger, more powerful bikes into India.    

Managing director Diego Graffi said the firm is looking at tapping into the 250-300cc range rather than starting off in the well-established 150cc segment. Based on Graffi’s statement, we believe Aprilia will take on the likes of KTM, Suzuki, Yamaha and Honda.

The upcoming bike is likely to be a thoroughbred entry-level performance motorcycle with premium underpinnings. Given Aprilia’s race heritage, it’s bound to be competitive with features second to none. 

Representative Image

It’s more likely to be positioned on par with the Honda CB300R in terms of underpinnings as well as fit and finish levels. However, the company may tune the engine to churn out more performance which’ll help it outperform its rivals. For reference, the current crop of quarter-litre bikes make between 25-30PS of power. There may be two models on offer -- a fully-faired bike and a naked streetfighter, just like the Aprilia RS 150 and Tuono 150. But it’ll look more like the China-spec GPR 150.

These bikes are likely to be manufactured at Piaggio’s Baramati plant and positioned as premium offerings. The Italian brand believes Indian customers are willing to pony up extra dough for better performance, technology and equipment, which has been evidenced by a couple of offerings in the recent past. Consequently, we could expect the bikes to pack a twin-spar frame, an upside down fork, a monoshock and an aluminum swingarm paired with radial tyres for maximum performance. 

All said and done, these products will take some time to hit Indian shores. We believe Aprilia could showcase these in concept form at Auto Expo 2020followed by an early 2021 launch. So, expect them to comply with BS6 emissions norms, have ABS and other safety features as standard to comply with current as well as future regulations. 

Source: Economictimes