After a lot of chirpings, MT03 and Yamaha R3 launch date has been revealed and the duo will give upgrade options to R15/MT15 riders…
In the motorcycle segment, Yamaha has had a gala run with the sporty 155 platform that spawns the R15 and MT15 in India. However, the problem is that bikers do not have any upgrade option from the Jap – whenever they get over these sub 20 HP models.
That is about to change as the company has firmed up its plans to bring the MT03 to India. The full faired sibling R3 will also tag along. While the faired sportster has had an innings here earlier, this will be the streetfighter’s first stint in India.
Unlike last time, the R3 will be more kitted and come with better features including upside down front forks that give it a beefier look. And with those demon-like headlamp, the MT03 looks like the real sibling of the MT15. Both the motorcycles will be powered by the 321cc, parallel twin engine that will churn about 42 PS of peak power and almost 30 Nm of max torque.
According to a latest report, the launch date of both these motorcycles has been revealed and the prices and other details of these entry level sporsters will be known on the 15th of December.
While the entry of these models in India is a welcome news, the prices may not be to everybody’s likings. Autocar still claims that at least the initial lots of these models will come here as CBUs (that attract a lot of taxes) and they will not be even CKDs (forget local manufacturing!).
Is It The End of 250cc Yamaha FZ25…?
The R3 costs about 2,08,200 Baht whereas the MT03 is priced at 196,500 Baht in Thailand. That gives us a price band of 4.60 Lac to 5.0 Lac after direct conversion to INR. And this is precisely what these motorcycles may be priced at, eventually, in India.
Yes, not a very pretty pricing prospect but that is how Yamaha intends to fight the game in this segment. Whether it will be successful or not can not be predicted at this point but the plan appears to be simple – tap the existing MT15/R15 owners…
