Its official and its coming! The most awaited premium sports bike, Duke 390 is coming soon to a KTM dealership near you. According to a press release shared by Bajaj, they have unveiled the future roadmap of KTM for the forthcoming 12-14 months where they will be launching not one but two motorcycles.
KTM Duke 390: First up will be the 375cc Duke 390 (Pic Above) which will make way towards the mid of this year. Now, this does put an end to the speculation of a March launch of this big Duke. Like Duke 200, Duke 390 will also be produced at Bajaj’s plant at Chakan. Duke 390 will be powered by a single block 373.2cc 4 stroke motor which will be capable of churning out 44 horses and a very impressive 35Nm of torque. According to our sources, Bajaj is targeting a price bracket of Rs 2.2 Lakh for this monster which will come with ABS as standard.
RC25: And if you are still left waiting, KTM is also preparing a 250cc fully faired RC25 which will be based on their flagship RC8 sportsbike (Pic below). RC25 will be powered by a 250cc engine and might sit between the Duke 200 and Duke 390. The noticeable bit about RC25 is that it will be a global product and the first KTM fully faired small displacement motorcycle to go into production.
Moreover, KTM will also keep on display the magnanimous 1190cc RC8 supersports bike in its showrooms from March this year. However in a specific disclaimer, the company clears that it will just be a show piece and will not be on sale. This will possibly be done to gauge the response the bike garners from the enthusiastic crowd. Based on that, they might just consider launching it soon!
KTM, with its single product Duke 200 registered sales of 8500 units since its foray in India in January 2012 which looks small compared to the number of bikes we see on the roads. The erstwhile Bajaj ProBiking stores were transformed into KTM branded stores where these big capacity more powerful bikes are sold. Bajaj claims that with 70 operational dealerships across India, K’TM has the largest dealership base among all premium motorcycle brands in India. The definition of premium they have defined is “Brands whose entire portfolio is priced above Rs 1 Lakh“.
So, if you are in the market for a machine in this segment, well your best bets are coming in!
