Piaggio – Aprilia Superbike in India soon!

Aprilia-RSV4-Factory-race-track-image

Piaggio Vehicles Pvt Ltd – the Indian subsidiary of Piaggio & C s.p.a. of Italy, has unveiled that its superbike Aprilia RSV4motor bike will be fully imported, bookings will begin in April & follwed by a iconic two-wheeler Vespa LX 125 scooter in 2012. With this, Piaggio’s is all set to get pulses racing and the adrenaline pumping for aficionados of racing bikes and scooters. Aprilia has been a part of the Piaggio Group since 2004 and is celebrated as the benchmark for street legal superbikes. However, it was earlier publicized that Aprilia RSV 4 motorbike is set to be launched towards 2010 end. As per various racing record-books, Aprilia has become a modern motorcycling legend itself. It has also taken away the highest number of points by a constructor in Grand Prix motorcycle racing’s history.

This Aprilia RSV4 bike is powered by a 999.6 cc V4 engine and has 180 bhp. In September last year, Aprilia RSV4 rider, Italian Max Biaggi, won the 2010 SBK World Championship. So with such glamorous and exciting racing history, the RSV4 Factory super bike will surely guarantee adrenaline rushing riding thrills to its buyers when this bike will be launched in India. The pricing will be in the Rs 13 lakh – Rs 17 lakh range.

“The easiest way to introduce the Aprilia brand here is to start with sporty and even naked bikes. The next product could be a 125cc bike. We can develop these specifically for India or launch existing models such as the RS, SX and RX at a competitive price,” said Mr Umberto Basso, Aprilia Category Manager, 2 wheeler Product Marketing, Piaggio & C spa.

Aprilia is targeting nearly eight showrooms and service outlets in the next 12-18 months. For the Vespa range, however, Piaggio will have a separate network across 70 cities by 2011-12.

The company is investing €30 million on a new 1.5 lakh unit capacity scooter plant which will be built by this December. An additional €60 million has already been invested on a petrol and diesel engine plant. While the petrol engine is being exported to the parent company, a 1.2 litre diesel engine is being used in India and another 1 litre diesel engine will start production by April.

Piaggio is in talks with General Motors India to supply 1.2 litre diesel engines for its new LCV range being planned with Chinese partner SAIC. Company officials said GM is looking at an order size of around 50,000 units a year. Talks are expected to end by the end of this year. On its own, Piaggio sells LCVs under the ‘Ape’ brand.