32 KTM 200 Duke launched in India at 1.17 Lakh Rupees..!!

Bajaj officially launches the high performance street bike, the KTM 200 Duke.. at a very attractive price

Bajaj Auto launched the KTM 200 Duke in India today with an Ex-Showroom (Delhi) price tag of 1,17,500 Rupees..!! This puts the 200 Duke at a very interesting price point between the Yamaha R15 (1.07 lakhs Ex-Showroom) and Honda CBR250R (1.43 lakhs Ex-Showroom).

Bookings commence from Feb 1, 2012 at the KTM (earlier caled as Probiking) showrooms. Deliveries are expected to start after a few weeks of booking.

KTM 200 Duke:

The "Raja" among "Desi" bikes in

>> Power to Weight Ratio

>> Power to Rupee Ratio..!!

With a 200 cc, liquid cooled, 4 valve engine belting out 25 bhp (25.35 Ps) of peak power at a high 10,000 rpm and a light weight body with a kerb weight of just 136 Kgs; the 200 Duke is already the "Power to Weight" king among the India made bikes. Now with the official annoucement of the price, the 200 Duke also becomes the "Power to Rupee" king among the made in India bikes..!!

Posted below is a quick comparision between the closest competitors to the 200 Duke (in terms of performance, pricing and appeal) the Yamaha R15 Version 2.0 and the Honda CBR250R (non-abs).

13 2012 Yamaha SZ-X / SZ-R (New Colors + Kick Starter) [Photos/Specs]

Yamaha India updates its SX-X and SZ-R models with new colors/graphics and adds a kick starter..

Yamaha India had launched three models under the SZ brand name in August/September 2010. Unless one keeps a regular tab on the 2 wheeler scene in India, its a bit confusing for the common man to differentiate between the three SZ models.

When first launched, SZ: Had only Kick start and had no tank scoop, SZ-X: Had Electric start (but no kick start) + had a tank scoop & SZ-R: Had Electric Start (but no kick start) + had a different tank scoop design than the SZ-X + had a front disc brake.

2012 Yamaha SX-R

What's new in the 2012 upgrade?: Yamaha India has added the earlier missing Kick starter along with the Electric starter on the SZ-X and SZ-R models. Also the SZ-X and SZ-R models get slightly redesigned decals and a new "Silver" color.

The base SZ model seems to have been untouched also in the technical specifications remain almost identical with the older model except for the 2 kg increase in the kerb weight.

4 24th Jan: KTM 200 Duke, 30th Jan: Next Gen Pulsar?

The onslaught from Bajaj Auto is about to start.. Amen

The launch date of the much awaited KTM 200 Duke in India is on 24’th January 2012. The official countdown of the "baby" Duke in India began when Mr. Rajiv Bajaj gave away the launch date in an interview to a news channel (NDTV) a couple of weeks back.

Having already revealed the engine specs of the 200 Duke and provided a select bunch of Indian automotive journalists with its first ride feel, it’s just the "Price" and the "Booking + Delivery dates" that is left to be officially announced on 24’th of Jan 2012.

Before the Duke dust had even settled, another interesting development has taken place. In a very recent interview given to CNBC TV18 Mr. Bajaj has gone on record to say that a new product will be revealed on 30’th of January 2012, the launch of which will be around March 2012..!!

16 Xtreme (Not CBZ Xtreme), HF Dawn/Deluxe (Not CD Dawn/Deluxe) & Karizma ZMR Fi (Not PGM-Fi) @ 2012 AutoExpo

Nobody has till now noticed that Hero has displayed a couple of models with changed names at the 2012 AutoExpo..!!

This indicates the beginning of the demise of a name (CBZ) which started the trend of 4-stroke, stylish + performance bikes in India..

Its very surprising that nobody, I repeat nobody (blogs, forums or mainstream auto journalists) have so far noticed that apart from removing the Honda name from all the vehicles that were displayed at the 2012 AutoExpo, Hero also displayed its 150 cc “CBZ Xtreme” model with just “Xtreme” branding..!!

Not just that, Hero also displayed it’s 100 cc “CD Dawn/ Deluxe” models with a new brand name as “HF-Dawn/Deluxe”. Also when observed closely the PGM-Fi letters from its Karizma ZMR model has been rewritten now just as “Fi”.

1 TVS @ 2012 AutoExpo: 125 cc Radeon Prototype & official word of Victor brand to be re-launched

Motorcycles from TVS Motors @ 2012 AutoExpo..

TVS @ previous AutoExpos:

The image that TVS Motors projects itself at almost every AutoExpo is that of an extremely adventurous 2 wheeler maker who are not averse to trying exciting stuff. Since 2004 at every AutoExpo, TVS have been dishing out outlandish 2 wheeler concepts. Chicane, Taurus, Isotope, Predator, X-Fossil are names of some of those motorcycle concepts. There was even a futuristic quad bike concept called Hammer head during the last 2010 AutoExpo.

TVS @ this year’s (2012) AutoExpo

TVS pavilion @ 2012 AutoExpo