Have you ever wondered why the TVS Victor is still not removed from the TVS Motors’ homepage? The Victor which once dominated the Indian roads and gave a fierce battle to the Hero Honda Splendor and all the other bikes in that segment is rumoured to re-enter the Indian soil with a slightly refreshed looks.
According to an article published in Business Today – “Victor, its (TVS) first indigenously developed product launched in 2001, did brisk business initially (selling as many as 40,000 units per month) before a multitude of problems such as rusting of the exhaust pipe, seepage of water into the petrol tank, malfunctioning of the lock, etc., surfaced and sank the product”
In that article senior R&D guys from TVS Motors have admitted that it was quality/durability issues which led to the TVS Victor’s demise. But is it really so?
Even the Bajaj Pulsar which was launched just a couple of months after the TVS Victor has had its fair share of quality issues in the past. Despite that, the Pulsar has now become a legendary brand among Indian Motorcycles.
Though, the bike is still in the website only in list of bikes for the international range, one should remember that TVS Motors has explicitly said that it is planning to launch a new bike and a scooter by the end of this year.
The June 2011 issue of AutocarIndia magazine carries a small story that TVS might resurrect the Victor in India. The magazine has published a spy photo of a bike shot from its rear three quarters. The bike looks strikingly similar to the Victor model of yesteryears. The photo seems to have been taken in Chennai, the capital city of the home state of TVS Motor. It was new and fresh at that point of time when commuters had not much colour options to buy and own.
Also, TVS can put its collars up for having designed and brought out the first indigenous bike – the Victor brand. For all those who think it is the Pulsar, please correct yourself, for it’s the Victor. Though, the reasons for downfall for this bike is unidentified, it certainly is a reliable and a low maintenance cost incurring bike ideally suited for city commutes. Following the Victor GX 100 was the GLX 125, the 125cc bike from the same Victor brand which again did not go well in the Indian bike market.
The bike in the spy shot published in the magazine definitely looks very much like the “Victor GX” model with identical looking turn indicators, rear tail lamp, grab rail, tail piece. As changes, the bike did have black colored alloy wheels and a back colored full chain cover.
Interestingly TVS still has retained the Victor GX (110 cc) and Victor GLX (125 cc) in its international line-up. Therefore it could even be that the spy photo published in the magazine could be of a Victor model under test, but one which is for the export market and not for India..!!
Sorry to say that we are unable to publish the spy pic published in AutocarIndia at this point of time owing to the unavailability of the same in digital from, but we assure you we’ll soon come up with the pic for our readers.
Do you personally feel that this is the right time for Victor to re-enter? Will it dominate the market again as it did years ago? Post your views and comments below.
Video of TVS Victor models Commercial –
Source – AutocarIndia (Via 2wheelsindia.com)
