Speculation: Diwali Dhamaka Honda CBR250R?

For quite some time now, a proper 250cc motorcycle from Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India has been in the pipeline, at least from the Indian auto blogosphere’s perspective. The festive Diwali season of 2010 has been the highly anticipated launch period of the 250cc sportsbike from Honda and with Diwali just around the corner, the murmurs are back. The speculated Honda sportsbike is the Honda CBR250R, which has been readied up by Honda for the UK and the European motorcycle market where tough motorcycle licensing norms has made the sub 250cc motorcycle segment a very profitable and viable one. This motorcycle also could sell in the Japanese domestic market, the Indonesian and the Thai market where Honda needs a strong performing sports motorcycle to challenge the supremacy of the Kawasaki Ninja 250R.

Honda India could bring in the Honda CBR250R to India to take on the Kawasaki Ninja 250R, whose sales have really looked promising for India Kawasaki Motor and Bajaj as well. The Honda CBR250R, whose styling looks to be heavily inspired by the Honda VFR packs plenty of punch, 33 Bhp to be precise, from it’s 250cc single cylinder, liquid cooled motor. This much power lugging a very light 140 kilo kerb weight will certainly give the CBR250R plenty of muscle to set a new benchmark in the Indian premium sportsbike segment and will also probably help Honda India to price the motorcycle very competitively.

While the UK spec model packs in the high end motorcycle ABS technology, Honda India could dump ABS to make the pricing more competitive as the UK Spec Honda CBR250R sells for close to GBP 4000 which translates to almost INR 2.8 Lakhs. Even so, the Honda CBR250R will still undercut the Kawasaki Ninja 250R if brought in CKD form.Another motorcycle’s name which is doing the rounds in the rumor mill as a probable Diwali launch by Honda is the restyled Honda CBR150R. While this motorcycle can be brought in by Honda to take on the Yamaha R15, we still believe that a proper 250 would make more sense as Honda has been going very slow on it’s premium sportsbike segment plans. With the Honda CBR250R’s launch, HMSI would get both a brand builder as well as a cracking seller if it manages to price it sensibly. All said, till Honda comes out in the open and lets the cat out of the bag, all we can do is to keep our ears and eyes open for a sporty Honda this festive season.

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