Aprilia SR150 Race
Without elaborating much on what the variants will be, Pelle said that Aprilia's team in India is working to bring more variants that are likely to be different iterations of the existing model. The first variant of the new 150 cc scooter - SR150 Race - is a peppier version. The scooter gets Aprilia's MotoGP GP-GS race bike inspired Fluo Russo red and green graphics under the metallic grey paintwork; red finished alloy wheels and golden front brake caliper.
Aprilia has also changed the gearing ratios on the SR150 Race, which the company says, gives the scooter quicker acceleration and company officials tell us that "the difference can be felt in in the first 200 metres itself." Other hardware remains the same with the 154.8 cc single-cylinder motor producing 10.4 bhp and 11.4 Nm of torque.
In addition, Stefano Pelle also revealed at the launch that Aprilia India is planning to introduce performance accessories for the SR150. Likely to be a first for the scooter segment, the upgrades will include a new performance exhaust, an upgraded carb system, and also new Aprilia merchandise which will be made available at attractive prices.
The Vespa scooter range will receive a facelift later this year
Coming to the Vespa line-up, the retro Italian scooter range hasn't seen a major upgrade for a while now and sales figures have been far from optimistic. Nevertheless, we will see a major facelift this year on the Vespa as the bike maker plans to roll out facelifts later in the year along with adding BSIV compliant engines. It is also the theme of colours for Vespa globally this year, and we could see new colours coming in on the scooter. When asked about adding AHO to the Vespa and Aprilia scooters, the officials said that the same is in the pipeline and will be done in 2017 itself.
Expanding its network, Aprilia plans to setup more Motoplex dealerships across the country. Work has already started in Bangalore and we'll soon see dealerships in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Delhi as well. Both the Vespa and Aprilia range are produced at the company's Baramati facility that has a capacity of about 1.50 lakh annually, while current production stands at a little less than a lakh. Apart from catering to domestic demand, the plant also exports to Nepal and certain South American markets, while exports will commence to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh soon.
