BH CORRESPONDENT, New Delhi: Bang on target has been the strategy of Probiking Business Unit that handles Bajaj Auto’s premium motorcycle vertical which represents motorcycle brand Husqvarna from the land of Volvo — Sweden.
Husqvarna Motorcycles produces a diverse range of motocross, enduro and supermoto machines using their own two-stroke or four-stroke engines, ranging in capacity from 125 cc to 693cc and the brand made its India debut at the 2019 India Bike Week in December.
For the Indian market, a range of smaller displacement new street motorcycles based on the minimalistic styling of larger Svartpilen and Vitpilen 401 models have just been released at an attractive introductory price.
Bajaj Auto has announced the commencement of bookings for the Husqvarna Svartpilen 250 and its café-racer sibling, the Vitpilen 250.
Husqvarna Svartpilen 250 is designed to perform as a rugged urban explorer and its ergonomic styling and riding posture double confirms the role. Seat height stands at 835mm and ground clearance has been kept at 145mm.
The scrambler-style bike shares its powerplant with the KTM 250 Duke which is a 248.76cc, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled, four-stroke, DOHC. It comes with fuel-injection and produces 29.5bhp at 9,000rpm and 24Nm at 7,500rpm. The six-speed transmission with slipper clutch function is familiar kit from the 250 Duke. Fuel tank capacity is 9.5 litres.
The powertrain is housed in a steel trellis frame which comes with bolted sub-frame. Suspension hardware comprises of inverted cartridge 43mm front forks and a preload-adjustable rear mono-shock.
Among features package, Svartpilen 250 gets a full-digital, LCD instrument cluster which offers lot of information. Gauges — tachometer, speedometer, gear position indicator and fuel gauge among others which are digitally displayed on the LCD screen. Bluetooth connectivity is not offered nor USB charging points.
Dual purpose 110/70 (f) and 150/60 (r) tyres shod on 17in alloys come as standard and stopping duties are handled by 320mm discs at the front and 230mm disc at the rear. Package includes dual-channel ABS.
Befitting the 154kg bike’s rugged styling is the handlebar brace and cladding on the top of the fuel tank.
Husqvarna Motorcycles will be available from upgraded KTM showrooms across the country. Both models go on sale in March at an introductory price tag of Rs 1.80 lakhs. 100 showrooms across 45 cities will stock the bikes and the brand plans the bikes to reach close to 400 KTM/Husqvarna showrooms across 275 locations in the country.
Rakesh Sharma, Executive Director, Bajaj Auto Ltd. said, “The premium motorcycle segment has seen a strong growth in India over the last five years of almost 19% CAGR.” This includes two broad categories, sporty high-performance, and limited performance lifestyle motorcycles.
