Benelli Leoncino to Be Launched in Late 2016

Speaking to carandbike.com, Kulkarni said once production begins, the Leoncino will be brought and introduced in the Indian market. "Of the three Benelli bikes to be introduced next year, one is definitely the Leoncino," he said. The other two bikes to be introduced are the TRK 502, also introduced at EICMA, and possibly a new faired version of the TNT300.

Kukarni added that the Leoncino will be priced below the current Benelli TNT600i and the TNT600GT. Once launched, the Benelli Leoncino is expected to be priced between Rs 4.75- Rs 5 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai).

DSK Benelli, which sells motorcycles from the Italian brand in India, will be looking at bringing in the Leoncino as CKD units, to keep costs competitive. Benelli is now Chinese owned, and production is almost entirely in China, though the design is still Italian.

The new scrambler concept, Leoncino (meaning 'Lion Cub'), gets its name from a line of lightweight Benelli models which were introduced in the 1950s. The new concept is powered by a liquid-cooled 500cc parallel twin engine, producing around 47bhp of power and 45Nm of torque. Power is transferred to the rear wheel through a six-speed gearbox.

The engine is mounted on a street trellis frame, while the 19-inch front wheel is mounted on a beefy 50mm upside down fork. Dual 320mm petal discs will be gripped by radial mount calipers while the 17-inch rear wheel gets a single 260mm disc. ABS will be standard. The Leoncino will be showcased at the upcoming 2016 Auto Expo.