The Imperiale 400 will be the first motorcycle from Benelli to receive a BS6 update and according a new report, it will see a massive price hike of Rs 40,000.
The BS6 emission norms have been effective from April 1 but Benelli has not yet come up with a BS6 motorcycle yet. The Imperiale 400 was supposed to be the first BS6 motorcycle from the Italian manufacturer and it was supposed to be launched in April. However, with the ongoing lockdown, that stands suspended now. It will however be launched as soon as the lockdown is lifted. The bigger news here is the price hike that the BS6 Benelli Imperiale 400 is set to receive.
According to a report by Zigwheels, the BS6 Benelli Imperiale 400 will be launched for a price of Rs 2.2 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Now that’s a massive hike is price by around Rs 40,000 and one of the highest premiums we have seen for a BS6 upgrade on a motorcycle. The reasons cited for the high premium are the BS6 updates and high USD currency exchange rates.
Benelli launched the Imperiale 400 last October for an introductory price of Rs 1.69 lakh. It soon saw a hike in price in February where the silver colour of the motorcycle was retailing at Rs 1,79,500 and the other two colours (black and red) were priced at Rs 1,89,499. With another hike of Rs 40,000, it will definitely put off some buyers of the Imperiale 400. Particularly so when its rivals – the Royal Enfield Classic 350 and the Jawa – are considerably cheaper.
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It’s also interesting to note that the 374cc, single cylinder, air-cooled engine is already fuel-injected. Introducing fuel injection on BS4 motorcycles is what considerably increases the price of BS6 models but the Imperiale 400 already had that covered. Although we do not have any information about the engine outputs of the BS6 model, the BS4-spec model produced 21PS of power and 29Nm of peak torque. Even if there are losses, they would be marginal.
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In terms of mechanical hardware, the Imperiale 400 uses 41mm telescopic forks at the front and pre-load adjustable twin shock absorbers at the back. Braking is handled by disc brakes at both the end with dual-channel ABS as standard. At the front, it gets a 19-inch tyre and an 18-inch tyre at the back. Following the Imperiale, we can expect the Leoncino 250 and Leoncino 500 to be updated next. Leoncino 250 is the second most affordable motorcycle in their lineup, priced at Rs 2.5 Lakhs (ex-showroom).
