Piaggio has been selling the premium Vespa scooter and also the 150cc scooter segment dominator, Aprilia SR150 in India. Now the company is planning to launch motorcycles in the lucrative 150cc – 200cc segment under the Aprilia brand. The bikes are expected to launch next year.
Piaggio is planning to bring the Aprilia RS 150 and the Tuono 150 to begin with. These are the entry-level motorbikes from the Aprilia range and were showcased at the 2018 Auto Expo show in India. The showcased bike received good feedback from the public and production versions are expected to soon hit the Indian streets, at least for trials.
According to a media report, the Aprilia RS 150 and the Tuono 150 will go in production in the next 12 to 15 months. The 150cc bikes are expected to be priced around the INR 1.5 lakh mark. The first two motorcycles are expected to be the Aprilia RS 150 and the Tuono 150 followed by two more motorcycles which could be a highway touring or adventure models.
The primary objective of these new bike launches would be to fight it out in the segment where the Yamaha YZF-R15 V3.0 & MT-15 are present. Aprilia might also want a piece of the pie of the new emerging adventure touring segment where Hero MotoCorp has the Xpulse 200 on one end, and then you also have the BMW Motorrad G310GS at the other end of the single-cylinder spectrum.
In India, the Aprilia brand currently has a 125cc and a 150cc engined scooter and their specifications are as follows:-
- 124.7cc, 3-valve, air/fan cooled, motor producing 9.52 HP of power @ 7250 RPM and 9.9 Nm of torque @ 6250 RPM.
- 154.8cc, 3-valve, air/fan cooled, motor producing 10.02 HP of power @ 6750 RPM and 10.9 Nm of torque @ 5000 RPM.
The scooters ride on hydraulic telescopic front forks and a single hydraulic shock absorber on the rear. The brakes are a 220 mm hydraulically operated single disc with 2-piston caliper on the front and a 140 mm diameter, internally expanding mechanical drum brake on the rear. For safety, the brakes are equipped with a CBS on the SR 125 and ABS on the SR 150.
