Many new bikes and scooters were launched at Asia”s largest Auto Expo which is held in Delhi every two years. Battery operated (Electric) bikes bikes & scooters were quite conspicuous. Dozens of Electric models, mostly from China were displayed. Among Indian E-bike brands Y0-BYKEs and Hero Ultra were significant. Yamaha showcased some very attractive models, locally made small capacity commuter bikes as well as their fully imported famous 1000 cc R1 model and the giant 1670 cc MT-01. Both these bikes are priced at @ Rs.Eleven lakhs plus.
At the lowest end of the price range were the XENiTiS bikes made by GLOBAL Automobiles Ltd. of Kolkata. They have a range of two bike models and one un-geared scooter. Their entry level 100 cc four-stroke bike named ROCK100 features electronic tachometer, gear indicator (like Suzuki Zeus), self start and many other goodies, yet is sold at an unbelievable ex-showroom price of only Rs.22,970/-! I calculate that on-road price would be @ Rs.26,000/-. Looks like Global Auto of Kolkata have done on bikes, what Ratan Tata of Bombay has done in cars! While Tata NANO might be the cheapest and best car in the world, Global Auto’s ROCK.100 is definitely the cheapest regular 100 cc geared bike in India. And its engine is an absolute carbon copy of the old Hero Honda Splendor, having the same 97.2 cc engine and same 50 X 49.5 bore X stroke. So in terms of design parameters, ROCK100 is right up there with HH Splendor and has many more features than HH Splendor, at half the price! I would say this is the Chinese Hero Honda Splendor. The engine is made in China (to Indian specifications) while body parts are Indian made. The other model from GLOBAL is the 125 cc Xpression Plus+ priced at Rs.34,999/- ex-showroom. The scooter made by GLOBAL, is a 150 cc model and will be launched a few months later.
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| Global Automobiles ROCK.100 motorcycle |
Global Automobiles Xpression Plus+ 125 cc bike |
TVS Flame 125 cc motorcycle. |
The bike which attracted the most crowd because it will be immediately available, was the 125 cc TVS Flame. The unique feature of this bike is that it is the first bike in India to have ONE cylinder, TWO spark plugs and THREE valves! This bike should be available in TVS showrooms as soon as the Transport Commissioner of your state approves it. Apart from the Flame, there were the RTR160 with Electronic Fuel Injection and front petal disc brake, as also the 18.5 bhp Race Performance Kit version of the RTR 160, with a claimed top speed of 130 kmpH and a zero-to-sixty timing of 3.8 seconds. Then there was the TVS Neo, a step-thru bike based on the new 110 cc of the Star City engine. There was a huge concept Electric bike displayed named TVS X-Fossil, which develops 34 hp (25 kw) of power by a Lithium-Ion polymer battery which can do zero-to-sixty in 3.2 seconds and has a top speed of 140 kmph. There was also a scooter named QUBE based on the TVS Pep+ engine. No specific mention was made about the launch of Neo or the Qube. The X-Fossil electric bike will probably never be launched. TVS also showcased its 200 cc, two-stroke, 7.2 bhp, LPG engine powered Autorixa named King.
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| TVS Neo 110 cc step-thru bike |
TVS X-Fossil Electric bike |
TVS QUBE scooter based on Pep+ engine |
Yamaha seems to be finally in a mood to move into the 150 cc segment. While the two already launched Yamaha super-bikes mentioned above had the crowds drooling and many sporty, new (to be launched by April 2008) and extremely attractive looking (type SS and RS) versions of the already selling 125 cc Yamaha Gladiator were displayed, the launch of the 150 cc YZF-R15 is slated for mid-2008. Yamaha also displayed its FZ150 macho bike but no launch is in sight.
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| Yamaha Gladiator type SS & RS |
Yamaha YZF-R15 |
Yamaha FZ 150 |
Honda (HMSi) launched its new scooter named Aviator which is based on the same old Activa / Dio / Pleasure engine. Having the same tech-specs, this scooter is different only in looks. Suzuki was also there with its already selling Access scooter.
Bajaj Auto was there with its old (Kawasaki) and new (KTM of Austria) relatives. Kawasaki displayed many models ranging from the 953 cc Z1 to 250 cc Ninja. KTM (in which Bajaj has reportedly bought 25% equity) also displayed five models ranging from 999 cc to 250 cc. However no definitive information about launches was available. The only new model I could locate at the Bajaj Auto stall was Discover 150 DTSi, having a 150 cc engine which produces 14.1 PS of power and a Torque of 12.8 Nm. This is fantastic. Now Bajaj will offer us two distinctly different models in the 150 cc class: Pulsar150 DTSi and Discover 150 DTSi.
