Confirmed: BMW G 310 R will not come to India this year
The BMW G 310 R will not go on sale in 2016, the company has confirmed exclusively to OVERDRIVE. The BMW G 310 R was developed by BMW Motorrad and will be produced in India by its partner TVS for domestic (India) as well as export requirements. BMW and TVS tied up in 2013 to jointly work on sub-500cc platforms from which BMW and TVS flavoured motorcycles would emerge. The BMW G 310 R is the first of the BMWs and as you know, TVS previewed its first motorcycle, the Akula 310, as a sportsbike concept at the 2016 Auto Expo. Now we believe the BMW G 310 R will be launched in January or February 2017. TVS' motorcycle, likely to retain the Akula moniker, is reportedly still on schedule - also slotted for early next year, we think March.
The delay in the Indian launch of the G 310 R is most likely due to supply constraints. We believe BMW will definitely include Germany and a handful of European markets in the initial markets list, and we also believe the initial production batches may not be able to satisfy these markets as well as India. BMW Motorrad might be taking the patient approach by delaying the launch to ensure customers who book get deliveries quickly rather than opening the order books with mere hundreds of G 310 Rs available to deliver causing long delays.
The BMW G 310 R is powered by an all-new, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected, 310cc single-cylinder engine. Peak power is 34PS at 9,500rpm, and peak torque is 28Nm at 7,500rpm with the redline set at 10,500rpm. The BMW G 310 R has a trellis frame with a cast pivot plate and a bolt-on rear subframe. The BMW uses 41mm upside down telescopic forks up front while the rear is direct mounted preload-adjustable rear monoshock.
The BMW G 310 R will enter a popular little corner of the motorcycle market in Europe where sits a fairly diverse group of motorcycles from the single-cylinder KTM 200/390 Dukes and the Honda CBR250R to the twin-cylinder Kawasaki Ninja 300 and the Yamaha YZF-R3. All of these play in a tight pricing ballpark. In Europe, we expect the BMW G 310 R to sit under the European pricing of the KTM 390 Duke at al, roughly EURO 5,000.
In India, however, we are not expecting BMW Motorrad to fall in-line with the KTM pricing strategy. As we have said before, our bet is that BMW will leverage the strength of its brand and product quality and price the BMW G 310 R above the KTM 390 Duke, probably between Rs 2.4-2.6 lakh, ex-showroom.
BMW Motorrad India, as per the 2013 announcement, was always expected to create its own dealer network to sell the G 310 R in India. Given the heavily urban-flavour of the entry-premium segment, we were expecting BMW to announce a starting network of 3-4 dealers in the big cities. The delay in the G 310 R might allow BMW to have more dealers in place when the motorcycle goes on sale. Expect BMW Motorrad India to have as many as 12 dealers open before 2017 is over.
As we have said before, the G 310 R will be, initially at least, the most affordable BMW motorcycle you can buy. But it will not be the only one. BMW Motorrad India will continue to sell its popular CBU lines, including the S1000RR sportsbike and derivatives as well as the uber icon, the R 1200 GS. BMW Motorrad's Thailand plant also allows the motorcycle brand to access a whole host of other motorcycles that can be sold as affordable CBUs just like Ducati and Kawasaki are able to.