Honda Scooter and Motorcycle India Pvt. Ltd (HMSI) has launched the 2013 Honda CBR 250R sports bike in India. This comes just a couple of days after the launch of the KTM 390 Duke at a shocker of a price.
Changes on the the bike are strictly cosmetic, Honda has not fiddled with the mechanicals of the bike. The 2013 Honda CBR 250R comes in 4 new colours: Sports Red, Black, Pearl Sunbeam White and a limited edition – Repsol paint job.
Price
2013 Honda CBR 250R Standard (Sports Red and Black) – Rs. 1.56 Lakh
2013 Honda CBR 250 Standard (Pearl Sunbeam White) – Rs. 1.57 Lakh
2013 Honda CBR 250R C-ABS (Sports Red and Black) – Rs. 1.85 Lakh
2013 Honda CBR 250R C-ABS (Pear Sunbeam White) – Rs. 1.86 Lakh
2013 Honda CBR 250R C-ABS Repsol Limited Edition – Rs. 1.92 Lakh
What’s New?
[slideshow id=6]
Apart from the paint jobs? Nothing much, the exhaust cover colour has been changed from silver to black, that’s all.
The Repsol Limited Edition variant of the 2013 Honda CBR 250R comes with Honda’s combined braking technology and ABS as standard. It will be available for order only till October 2013. “The Limited Repsol Edition shall bring the racing DNA of Honda Repsol team’s MotoGP bike for young racing enthusiasts and we are confident it will be well received by them”, said Mr. Y. S. Guleria, Vice President – Sales & Marketing, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd.
Honda is trying hard to raise people’s interest in the CBR 250R, though the company as whole is doing pretty well – 16% growth in April-May 2013 as compared to the same period in 2012, the motorcycle sales saw a slight dip of 4% in May 2013. The company must be feeling the heat after the launch of the KTM 390 Duke, which is priced at Rs. 1.8 Lakhs (ex-showroom Delhi) and produces 43 BHP of power and 35 Nm of torque from a 375 cc engine, was launched recently. In comaprison, the CBR 250R’s liquid-cooled 250cc, DOHC engine delivers only 26BHP power and 22.9 Nm torque.
The 2013 Honda CBR 250R might be at an dis-advantage as compared to the KTm 390 Duke, but it is still one of the best bikes in the business. It has enough grunt for our roads, it’s biggest trump card though would be it’s ride quality which makes it easy to use it for ones daily commute and also for long rides. The new paint options do add a bit of freshness to the bike, we;ll have to wait and watch of this is enough to stop the onslaught from KTM/Bajaj.
