Benelli's next major motorcycle for India will be the Tornado 302R and is scheduled to be launched in December this year. This was revealed by -Benelli to carandbike.com on the sidelines of the recently inaugurated 18th operational Benelli dealership in the country.
Benelli originally showcased four new products for India at the Auto Expo this year and the Tornado 302R was one of them. While the bike maker had previously announced that the full-faired offering will go on sale during the festive season, but the company decided to postpone the model altogether and introduce it with ABS as standard instead.
The manufacturer is currently testing the bike, while tests with ARAI are also underway. The move comes in favour of the government norms that makes ABS mandatory on new motorcycles with engine capacities over 125cc, starting from April 1, 2017.
2016 Benelli Tornado 302R
The new Benelli Tornado 302R is essentially the TNT 300, albeit with a complete fairing and draws power from the 300cc liquid-cooled, twin-cylinder engine tuned to churn out 35bhp of power and 27Nm of torque, while paired to a 6-speed gearbox. While the front is radically different from the TNT, courtesy of the split headlamp cluster, the rear quarter of the 302R gives out the similarities with its naked sibling.
In addition, the full-faired Benelli gets a significantly lighter Trellis frame, USD front forks and a monoshock rear suspension and twin disc brakes. While the Italian manufacturer hasn't shed light on the pricing yet, expect the Tornado 302R to command a price tag of around Rs. 3.5 lakh (ex-showroom) as it locks horns against the Kawasaki Ninja 300 and Yamaha YZF-R3 in the segment.
Benelli TNT 600 GT
Furthermore, December will also see Benelli introduce the ABS equipped version of the TNT 600GT tourer in the country. The model shares its underpinnings with the TNT 600i, with the latter receiving ABS earlier this year. As for the TNT 300, Benelli conveyed to caranbike.com that the street-fighter will be updated with the safety feature only next year.
