Coming soon: Benelli TRK 251 and Leoncino 250 sportsbikes

Chinese owned Italian motorcycle brand wants to launch new sportsbikes in India – the TRK 251 adv motorcycle and the Leocino 250 scrambler. Both these motorcycles are likely to be launched by the end of this year, and will be assembled in India through the completely knocked down (CKD) kit route. Both motorcycles are expected to be the least priced motorcycles from Benelli in India. Price tags close to Rs. 2 lakh is what’s likely for both motorcycles. The Leoncino 250 is expected to rival the likes of the KTM Duke 250 and the Honda CB 300R while the TRK 251 will rival the Royal Enfield Himalayan 400 ADV bike.

Both motorcycles will use a 250cc, single cylinder liquid cooled four stroke engine that makes 25.8 Bhp of peak power and 21.2 Nm of peak torque. This engine gets fuel injection, twin overhead camshafts, a four valve head and a 6 speed manual gearbox. Both the Leoncino and TRK 251 get upside down front forks, monoshock rear suspension, disc brakes on both wheels, dual channel ABS, alloy wheels, tubeless tyres and trellis frames. In terms of styling and ergonomics, both motorcycles are quite different. The Leoncino is a Scrambler with no fairing while the TRK 251 gets a large fairing, luggage mounts, and is larger in size.

Meanwhile, here’s what Vikas Jhabakh, Director of the Mahavir Group, the official distributors of Benelli in India, had to tell ETAuto about the upcoming motorcycles,

By the end of 2020, we will have 12-13 bikes in the Benelli portfolio. We are planning to launch two 250 cc bikes and a 400 cc motorcycle. Investments (already) made in the three acre facility is Rs 40 crore. We will make investments as and when required to ramp up the capacity. Electric (vehicle) seems to be the name of the game.But we are monitoring the policies carefully. We are waiting to see well laid out policy measures (to promote electric vehicles).

Benelli plans to expand its presence across India by increasing the dealership count to 60, across 50 cities. Currently, there are 19 Benelli dealerships spread across 18 cities caross India. The company is also planning to ramp up production as the launch of lower priced motorcycles such as the Leoncino 250 and TRK 251 are expected to create more demand. Currently, Benelli assembles 3,000 bikes each year from its Hyderabad factory. This factory will be expanded to assemble up to 20,000 units by the end of 2020. The motorcycle maker is planning to get into electric vehicles in future. For now though, there’s no clear indication about when the first electric motorcycle from Benelli will make an India debut.