Jun 6, 2006

Launch prospects

Hey y'all. I thaught I'd put a list together about who all're planning to launch stuff for us motorcyclists, and when... so here it is

Bajaj
ET reported that Bajaj has put back the launches of the Blade and Kristal scooters to early 2007. The new Pulsars and the DTS-Fi are expected diwali-ish. If true, that means a broken promise. Bajaj were very proud that all the displays were for a calendar 2006 launch.

Hero Honda
Made a surprise announcement at their results announcements that they had eight launches up their sleeve. Including a fuel-injected Glamour next month. To be called the Glamour F1, the motorcycle is due in June. The rains is not a great time to be launching stuff, conventional wisdom says, but a higher price outlay may not allow the Glamour F1 very great sales in the first place. Could the Karizma replacement/upgrade be in there?

Honda
Should have something for launch around the festive season. I'm hoping it isn't another sticker change for all the bikes, but something more substantial. I'd be gutted if they just put in a electric starter in the Shine and said enough. But If my luck holds, we'll get a refined 100cc entry level bike. Hmph.

Suzuki
The Heat and Zeus might net electric starters by September or so. After that, I'm hoping for another launch, maybe a 1000cc volume player. Hopefully they'll get it more right than the 125s

LML
There's always hope, eh?

Kinetic
One motorcycle called the Stryker is supposedly ready. This will be based on the Velocity, so I have no hopes for it. On the other hand, there should be two scooter launches. The Euro, which will be a regular 135/150cc Nova/Activa competitor and another one. A Kinetic or a Sym? We'll see soon enough, right?

TVS
Are said to be working on a more powerful, more sporty 150cc version of the Apache, and a 180 as well. The former should be out just before Diwali, if all goes well for TVS, with meeting the production demand for the current Apache. 180 by March 2007?

Yamaha
Should be launching one more product before the year is out. Not counting the expected launches of the CBUs, that is. Yamaha seems bullish on the R1 and if they can figure out a way to quickly homologate the bikes, we could have the bike on sale by December. The other launch is likely to be a 125 or a 150, more likely to be the former, but serious about performance, rather than pleasing the largest cross-section of society

Royal Enfield
Have been quiet for a while, because they've been readying the unit gearbox motor. The integration of the gearbox will release more power and in the process more fuel economy. We're hoping the first of those types hit the road by December this year.

There could be more launches in the year. ET reported a possible 24 launches before the year is out. Amen to that. Just hope they're not all dollar signs masquerading as pedestrian motorcycles...

I'm sorry, I gotta run, so excuse any spelling/grammar mistakes. Will fix 'em tomorrow...

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Re: Kinetic - pls be the Jupiter :0

Anonymous said...

R1? makes all those lawnmowers tolerable!

Unknown said...

totally off topic, but how did u get those categories ??? am stumped -_-

rearset said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
rearset said...

Yeah Sac, they told me in as many words. R1. December. Couple of procedural issues need to sorted out, but that's plan.

And nyct0ph0bia, I 'created' those categories. They're actually five separate posts right in the beginning of the blog. Everytime I add a post at the top, I edit those also, and put the links in. When you click the categories in the sidebar, it just opens those posts... et voila!

Unknown said...

thanx for the tip... have done the same on my blog... am still getting it up and running... i take it u "put" the categories sidebar? (html code and stuff rite?)

rearset said...

Dude, you're profile says private, so I have no way of finding your blog... URL please...

Yes, you copy+past the links code, replace the word LINKS with CATEGORIES and just change
the links text to the category names, replace HREF URLS with the category post permalinks...

Done!

Unknown said...

Thx a ton!!!!! it worked... i thot i had changed the profile thing, but i'll chk it again... here's my link
http://eltonpinto.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Hey, nice summary of the soon-to-explode Indian bike scene.

Are you on xbhp/rddreams ?