Piaggio India CEO, Diego Graffi has revealed that they will not launch the 125cc and 150cc Aprilia bikes in India. Instead, they plan on launching all-new Aprilia sub-400cc bikes.
Aprilia showed us the RS 150 and the Tuono 150 during the Auto Expo back in 2018. While every 2-wheeler enthusiast went gaga and expected Aprilia to launch the 150s soon, it never really happened.
Now Piaggio India CEO has cleared the air as to why they didn’t do so. He said that the Indian market is more welcoming to the 300-400cc offerings instead of the premium 125cc or 150cc bikes. This is one of the key reasons Aprilia has not launched the RS 150 or Tuono 150 here in India.
However, our eyes have lit up again as Piaggio said that they are working on a sub-400cc Aprilia motorbike for the Indian market. This will be the first 300-400cc spec bike from the Italian manufacturer.
The officials also said that they plan on switching to the CKD route once the market picks up pace. This means that if the sub-400cc Aprilia sells well here, as a bonus we might see a price drop in their big bikes.
Currently, the Italian brand has around 200 dealerships in our country. They plan on bumping up the number to about 400 in 18 months’ time.
The officials also added that the production capacity sits at around 1 lakh units/year, but they will soon bump those numbers to around 1.5 lakhs unit/year as well.
We can say with full faith that Aprilia has good plans for the Indian market in the coming years. The Aprilia sub-400cc bike will also take around 2-3 years, as the bike will be all-new. It will be really interesting to see how the Aprilia sub-400cc bikes take shape.
Aprilia Sub-400cc Bikes
- Aprilia is working on 300-400cc bikes instead of launching their 125cc or 150cc bikes as the Indian market is more welcoming for the former
- They also plan on improving plant capacity and on following the CKD route once the market picks up pace
- The sub-400cc Aprilia will be an all-new bike and will take around 2-3 years to arrive
