Benelli will launch its bikes in India in March 2015, all of which are being brought in via the CKD route. The prices will be between Rs. 3.5 to 14 lakhs.
DSK-Motowheels which has brought Benelli to India has postponed the launch of the Italian bikes in the country yet again, this time to the first half of March. The company was originally scheduled to launch Benelli bikes in January but delayed it to February. Now the company has delayed the launch yet again. The reason for the delay are multiple. First is India Bike Week, where the company is one of the sponsors. Thus working on promotion at IBW has led to the launch being postponed. Earlier Benelli was planning to launch its bikes before the IBW.
Second reason is the availability of dates. DSK-Benelli doesn’t want to launch its performance motorcycles on a date which will clash with any other event. The month of February has plenty of launches happening and since its a short month, it makes little sense to hurry up the launch. Thus, early March is when Benelli bikes will finally go on sale in India with 5 machines being offered. The range starts with the TNT 300 and extends up to the TNT 1130, all bikes being badged as TNT in India although some of them are from the BN series.
Benelli won’t have it easy in India although DSK is pumping in a lot of money and efforts to set-up a wide dealership network. All Benelli bikes face tough competition, the TNT 300 getting heat from the KTM Duke 390 and Kawasaki Z250 while the TNT 600i and TNT 600 GT fighting it out with the ER-6n and Ninja 650 respectively. That’s not all, the TNT 899 will have to fight it out with the Kawasaki Z800 and the Honda CBR650F while the flagship 1130 will rival the Z1000, CB1000R and Triumph Speed Triple.
