Motorcycles and scooters coming to India in 2014

2014 promises to be an exciting year in terms of new motorcycles coming to India. 2013 was a good year because probably for the first time in India, the focus shifted from small, value for money, affordable, entry level motorcycles to bigger, more exciting, performance driven bikes. 2014 will see the trend pick up and we will be among the largest markets in terms of the sale of middleweight motorcycles - that is 250cc to, say, 900cc.

Shumi, in a series of three videos, lists out the motorcycles that are coming to India in 2014.

Bajaj, Hero and KTM

Commuter bikes

Not very significant launches are expected in the commuter segment. The three main players - Honda, Hero and Bajaj - will come up with their usual updates. Hero in November last year announced 15 new updates, which will continue to roll out during 2014. Read more about the Hero updates here. Bajaj may come out with a few more Discovers. The Bajaj Pulsar 150, which is slightly more premium motorcycle as compared to those we are referring to in the commuter segment, is also due for an update this year.  Honda came out with their Dream series of motorcycles in 2013 and we expect more upgrades and variants of the 100cc Dream platform and 125cc Shine platform in 2014.

BAJAJ 

2013 Bajaj Pulsar 200SS

Bajaj Pulsar 200SS: The spy shots of the Pulsar 200 supersport are already up on our website. It is likely to get a slightly more powerful engine than the Pulsar 200NS with fuel injection. Expect the 200NS to come with fuel-injection as well.  Although there is no confirmation, but you can expect a 375cc Pulsar to be unveiled towards 2014 end as well.

HERO

Pawan Munjal with (from left) the Hero Splendor iSmart, Hero Xtreme, the ZMR, the Karizma R and the Pleasure at the November unveil

Impulse: Expect the Hero Impulse to get a more powerful 200-250cc engine, most likely from the Karizma.

Karizma: An updated Karizma R and ZMR are also on their way. It will be primarily a facelift with a bit of engine tuning.

EBR 250: The motorcycle from the stables of Erik Buell Racing is expected to come to India this year, but there is no clear indication when. Our guess is sometime towards the end of the year.

EBR 1190 RX: If Hero decides to get aggressive, expect the Buell 1190 RX to start selling in India. To know more about the EBR, click here. It has two more variants and we are hoping that they'll come to India to.

2014 EBR 1190RX

KTM

RC Series: The KTM RC 390 and the KTM RC 200 will be produced and launched in India this year. The KTM RC 125 will also be produced here, but chances of it being sold here are dim primarily due to the pricing. Read full report here. KTM will also be coming out with the KTM.

TVS, Mahindra, Hyosung, Yamaha , Honda

TVS

2012 TVS

TVS is currently hard at work making sure their BMW collaboration bears sweet, juicy fruit. The motorcycle which will make an appearance in both TVS and BMW form, to be retailed individually by the partners in India is slotted for 2015. But before that we expect to see two scooters and perhaps the rumoured RTR250. As usual, TVS will have a bunch of concepts at the Auto Expo, and we are hoping there will be some sign of the RTR250 in there.

MAHINDRA

The Centuro has done well and now it's the turn of the Mojo. Hopefully we will get to see the motorcycle at the Auto Expo and the launch date should be set for March or April. Mahindra have been working hard to updating the Mojo and we understand that the finished Mojo may be dramatically different from the one that has been shown before.

HYOSUNG

DSK Hyosung has confirmed two products for next year. The first is the GD250. It is their first all-new motorcycle in absolutely ages and looks a lot like the Duke in the angular shapes and stubby design. But more importantly, Hyosung will show this bike at the Auto Expo and launch it later this year.

Beside it will be the new GV250 Aquila which is a familiar shape because it looks similar to the motorcycle Kinetic launched and sold here for a very short time, a long time ago. This will be launched at the Auto Expo and go on sale.

YAMAHA

We are expecting more scooters from Yamaha. Their focus on scooters has brought them sales growth so it is natural for them to want to stay it that way. But the big news is the R25.

We broke the R25 Concept story on OVERDRIVE and now we are expecting to see theversion to see light of day in the middle of the year. Hopefully, Yamaha will have it slotted for India before the festive season and maybe a bit after that. It will take the next step promised by the R15 but how Yamaha will price it remains a big question. The R25 will be a good motorcycle but will it get a good price?

Watch our exclusive Yamaha R25 walkaround video here.

HONDA

Honda's CBR300R is expected to show up at Auto Expo and it has, of course, already been in production in Thailand for a bit. We are expecting Honda to launch it in India shortly thereafter. Again, like the R25, pricing and positioning the motorcycle is going be a challenge.

Harley-Davidson, Triumph, Indian, Suzuki, Ducati...

HARLEY-DAVIDSON

The Harley Davidson Street 500. Based on the same platform, the Harley is expected to launch at the Auto Expo 2014

The big news here is that the all-new Harley-Davidson Street 750 will be coming to India. The production model will be showcased at the 2014 Auto Expo. We expect H-D to announce its price and open bookings at the expo itself. Deliveries can be expected around June. At a price of under Rs 5 lakh, this is going to be an exciting new bike by Harley-Davidson. Read more here.

TRIUMPH

Triumph doesn't feel quite as long or large once you are in the saddle

Triumph Motorcycles recently launched a range of 10 motorcycles in India. Expect the lineup to increase to 13-14 by 2014 end. We have ridden the base model of the range – the– and loved it. If the entry level motorcycle is so good, we are sure it is going to be an amazing range by Triumph. However, the lower end pricing is a little bit on the higher side.

DUCATI

It has been a difficult time for Ducati in India. But Ducati has announced that it will come to India as a wholly owned subsidiary in 2014. Whether it chooses to share backend with Volkswagen or not remains to be seen. Ducati, however, will be in a position to ensure that customers are confident of buying its products.

INDIAN MOTORCYCLES

In 2013, we broke the story that Indian Motorcycles is coming to India. We can confirm that on January 22, Indian will start the sales of the Indian Chief here. Indian currently has three motorcycles – the Classic, the Vintage and the Chieftain. Shumi was the first Indian to ride the Indian Chieftain and you can read all about that here. Fantastic motorcycle with lots of features. We are expecting it to be priced around Rs 25 lakh.

VICTORY

Along with Indian, Polaris is also expected to bring Victory to India. It is likely to be a co-branded network where Victory will take one part of the showroom and the Indian will take the other. We expect Victory to come to India by the end of the year.
KAWASAKI

Kawasaki Z800

Kawasaki launched the Z1000 and Ninja 1000 in India in December 2013. But the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer is far from done yet and has lined up at least three more launches for 2014. The first as early as in January 2014 - the Kawasaki Z800. The motorcycle looks sharp and mean and is likely to be priced at Rs 8.5 lakh ex-showroom.

Kawasaki

Next up, around the middle of 2014, we are expecting to see the Versys 1000 to go on sale. The Versys is an adventure tourer that uses the same 1043cc engine as the Z1000 but is detuned to 113PS to extract more torque as befitting its role. Expect the Versys 1000 to be priced at Rs 12.5 lakh ex-showroom.

The ER-6n

The third bike on the cards is the naked version of the Ninja 650, the ER-6n which shares and mechanicals and the chassis but uses a taller tank and a swept back head lamp to create the impression of naked muscle. The ER-6n should be around Rs 5.5-5.8 on-road.

SUZUKI

Suzuki had told us at the 2012 auto expo that it will bring the enthusiast bikes to India in 2014. They have kept that promise and will be launching their first CKD product in India  ? the Inazuma GW250  ? ahead of the 2014 Auto Expo. This parallel-twin is highly regarded as a motorcycle. Read more about the Inazuma here.

ROYAL ENFIELD

Royal Enfield Continental GT in candy yellow colour

Royal Enfield just launched the Continental GT in India. A yellow version of the Continental GT is expected to come out by March. We are expecting a couple of more launches by the motorcycle manufacturer. But we are not sure what. Maybe upgrades to the chassis and engines based on what they have done with the Royal Enfield Continental GT. 

VESPA

The Italian scooter manufacturer is likely to launch more products in India. The Primavera, which we saw in Milan auto show, is likely to replace the current LX 125. We believe that Vespa will do well to expand its range in India.

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