Industry News

Five months ago we learnt that the Japanese manufacturer filed for a trademark application in the USA for the name ‘Katana’ and a swanky new logo too with the sword. It was more of a logo and name protection really, suggesting that Suzuki has strong intentions of getting it back for real.

Looks like the Gods have heard us because Suzuki just released a teaser video confirming the possibility. The video tells us that the Katana will be showcased to us at the Intermot show next month. The video shows a sword being made on an anvil and a statement that reads “Feel the Edge”.

We brought you this news almost half a year ago where Harley-Davidson ties the knot with Alta Motors to develop next-gen EVs’. It was an equity investment sharing ideologies and infrastructure to set up new technology and R&D to come up with innovative solutions to develop electric motorcycles.

But fresh new information tells us that the Bar & Shield brand had done a complete flip and have exited from its joint motorcycle project with Alta. They have culminated all involvements and investments in the San Francisco startup.

Offering the folks of the sub-continent a taste of America’s dreamy history, Avanturaa Choppers has set up the stage to bring in the country’s first production chopper company that will cater to the premium segment of motorcycles.

Becoming the first Street-Legal choppers to be made and sold in India, the 25 employees strong company has opened its first showroom in Bangalore and plans to open more shops, including in Hyderabad and in Delhi. Their first models are the Rudra and the Pavega and are based on the same powertrain.

In what went down as the biggest shift for the company, Ducati’s 1103cc Desmosedici Stradale powered V4 is being considered all around for being 2018’s best motorcycle. And rightly so is also the most powerful bike in its class with 214 hp and 91.5 lb-ft of torque.

This newfound love for a four-cylinder version of their street bikes which will most probably change the whole dimension within the segment will now trickle down to run on other segments and with smaller capacities. CEO Claudio Domenicali confirmed the firm’s interests in developing cheaper, lower-performance versions of their V4 engines to reap all benefits of the technological feat.

India celebrated its 72nd Independence Day yesterday and is in the highest rankings in terms of growing economy. It looks like our motorcycle industry is also heading to the subcontinent in the jive to make more money. Why wouldn’t they? India became the biggest market for two-wheelers in the world, and it saw multiple international manufacturers setting up manufacturing or assembly units here.

The most recent speculation coming to the surface is the Italian Red making contact with Hero Motocorp trying to figure out how to make a 300cc baby. Although not official, these rumors don’t seem to slip away, and we strongly believe these to be true since all major manufacturers these days are looking at new ways to expand their market reach by introducing smaller displacement models to newer Asian countries.

In a country that is price conscious, it was a gamble played by motorcycle manufacturers when they decided to bring in their higher segment motorbikes into India. But luckily, people started investing in premium motorcycles that were lauded in the performance and engineering arena. More and more players started entering the Indian subcontinent to showcase their entry level performance machines. And the gamble paid off.

Now, Benelli, another Italian manufacturer (albeit owned by a Chinese firm) is setting up an assembly unit in the subcontinent. In a partnership deal with Adishwar Auto Ride India-Mahavir Group, Benelli will be selling their machines only to the Indian market.

Harley-Davidson seems to be slowly shifting gears post its struggle to register any success stories due to its current downward trend in the market off-late. It has become a worldwide brand now after aggressive expansion that took place in the past decade, and to keep things from drifting away, HD dawned these new concepts upon us showing what the future holds in its sac.

And now, as part of its brand new “More Roads to Harley-Davidson” growth plan through 2022, HD has showcased multiple concepts under electric motorcycles, adventure-tourers, customs, and streetfighters being prominent ones. Surprisingly, Harley is also developing a more accessible, small-displacement product for the Asian markets.

The Honda CB600F (known as the Hornet in Europe and Brazil) was undoubtedly one of the most influential middleweight naked motorcycles. Originally launched in 1998, it had close ties to the race-winning CBR600RR but had always presented its own unique package of sporty performance and light, user-friendly handling.

In 2014 the model received a major update and got a displacement increase of 49 cc, the new model is called CB650F, which is currently sold in the US for $ 8,249. And according to Fabrice Recoque, director of the motorcycle division of Honda France, the world is getting TWO new 650cc naked motorcycles.

One of the largest motorcycle manufacturer, Honda, is in full gear and firing on all pistons and doing tremendously well in pioneering many great technology and features onto the world streets. The most recent being the development of hydrogen fuel based engines and self-balancing motorcycles.

Now, they are getting busy in a run to stay as the world leaders by developing a supercharged V-Twin motorcycle. As seen on a MoreBikes post, “Honda is planning a new, supercharged motorcycle that will have the power-boosting unit mounted on the left-hand side of the engine. And the new kit will power a host of new motorcycles over the next few years.”

With the craze of the vintage designs and brands taking mainstage in the industry currently, another forgotten Indian brand, Yezdi, is having a grand comeback in the most modern fashion and will join the likes of Ariel, Levis, Brough, Hesketh, Matchless, and Norton. Thanks to the Indian auto major Mahindra and Mahindra’s subsidiary, Classic Legends Pvt Ltd. (CLPL) that purchased the iconic British biker BSA Motorcycles rights to the JAWA brand (whose sister company is the Yezdi).

While we know that it would take at the least a couple of years to see their first iterations of what is touted as ‘The grand revival’, Mahindra has gone ahead and launched the official Yezdi.com website. It pays homage to those twin exhaust pipes of the Yezdis of yore and will take us through the brand’s rich history and magnificent heritage of the classic motorcycles.

Royal Enfield has become one of the world’s fastest growing motorcycle brand coming from the subcontinent India. Famously called the “Bullet Maker”, it has made great strides ever since Eicher took over the self-attested “oldest motorcycle company in continuous production in the world” has been making bold moves to be heard the world over.

The most recent one of those is to shelve its first ever Café-Racer model, the Continental GT 535. It was their current flagship model that gave the post-British brand the needed visibility in the markets other than its home, and is soon going to be replaced with the Continental GT 650 twin-cylinder brother.

Honestly, this was a bit of a surprise really. A good one nonetheless.

Ever since this year began, the industry has been abuzz with the shift to the electric future, including one of the few exotic motorcycle manufacturers, Confederate Motors, who got rebranded as “Curtiss Motorcycle Co.” doing so. (Of course, the name change is due to the business impact of association with the US Confederacy.)

But venture capital fund Ernest Lee Capital believes otherwise. These chaps have successfully acquired the intellectual property rights to the Confederate brands and designs and revived the Confederate Motors Inc. to manufacture high end, extremely high-powered, big V-twin motorcycles in Birmingham, AL, all over again.

Hero Electric entered the electric world after 12 years of extensive research in the EV segment and currently provides eco-friendly and cost-effective mode of personalized transportation to the masses. The company is a multi-product and a multi-location enterprise with interests in Electric Vehicles, Bicycles and Healthcare. With the newfound interest in electric powertrains, Hero Electric has made strides in this direction and are betting big on the technology.

It has been launching electric two-wheelers for some time now and has sold to over 100,000 customers. They, however, were not market spec vehicles like the Tork T6X or Ather S340 available in the country and were very underpowered. Now, they have tied up with the German Technology giant, Bosch, to get things around for them.

Uber is the world’s largest cab aggregator which has invested heavily into running their service in multiple countries in the world. To get a stronger foothold, the firm had launched uberMOTO in few cities of India and Thailand on a pilot basis. “uberMOTO enables riders to tap a button and get a motorbike ride in minutes. It’s a great way for people to save time and money on short trips and provides last mile connectivity at the most affordable price”.

Now, they are working to strike a chord with the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, Hero MotoCorp, and start a full-fledged bike-taxis in three metro cities in their home country, India. With prices starting at just ₹20 for the first 3 kilometers (that is just 30 cents for the first 1.86 miles), they are more affordable than public transports.

Jumped to fame way back in 1996, the Canadian Campagna T-Rex showcased bonkers three-wheeled trikes that ran on a 1.4-liter Kawasaki inline-four engine and two side-by-side seats. Later, a 1.6 liter BMW inline-six engine made a 160 horsepower in the T-Rex. 20 years later, Campagna has announced plans to build an electric version of its T-Rex three-wheeler.

To be showcased at the upcoming Montreal Electric Vehicle Show as a prototype, the Electric T-Rex will feature electric powertrain from Zero Motorcycles, the global leader in electric motorcycles and powertrains.