TVS Akula 310 Confirmed To Be Launched This Fiscal Year

TVS Motor president and CEO K.N.Radhakrishnan said that TVS will launch its 310cc bike in this fiscal year.

It has been confirmed that Indian two-wheeler major TVS Motor is bringing its flagship 310cc motorcycle before the end of this running fiscal year. That means that the TVS Akula 310 could be launched by the end of this year or early 2017 at the latest. The production model of the bike was also spotted testing recently on the Hosur-Bangalore road with a temporary registration plate of Karnataka. It seems that the company is undergoing final road testing of the bike or has started production at its Hosur plant.

Radhakrishnan told reporters, "This fiscal, we will launch our 310cc motorcycle. Before the end of this fiscal, we want to do some volumes." He also said that the platform of this upcoming bike has been developed jointly with German auto giant BMW Motorrad.

When asked about the company's production capacity, Radhakrishnan said the company will be investing around Rs 400 crore this year and the existing production capacity is sufficient for the next 18 months. However, the availability of its new Apache RTR 200 4V, which was launched way back in January this year, tells a different story. The bike is still only available in some selected cities. Moreover, the bike is not available with the optional features of fuel injection and ABS in many of the cities where it is available.

The TVS Akula 310 was first showcased at the 2016 Auto Expo in February this year as a full-faired racing concept. The production model of the bike will take design inspiration from that concept model and will look much similar in styling as well. To make it road legal, the fairing will get a headlamp unit, which we believe could be a split-type one. Also, the bike will come with a seating capacity of two, unlike the concept. The low set clip-ons could also be replaced with a raised pair to make the riding posture more comfortable.

Powering the bike will be the same 313cc, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine which will also power the upcoming BMW G 310 R. The motor makes 34PS of power and delivers a peak torque of 28Nm for the upcoming naked BMW. There could be some changes in the chassis when compared to the concept model and the aluminium subframe might be replaced by a steel underbone type structure. The company might also replace the inverted front forks with a set of conventional telescopic forks to reduce the cost. The ABS could be optional but the other features of the bike could be similar to the naked bike. 

The TVS Akula 310 is expected to be priced around that of the KTM RC 200, which comes with a price tag of Rs 1.69 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). However, the bike will rival higher priced offerings like the Yamaha YZF-R3, KTM RC 390 and the Kawasaki Ninja 300.