TVS unveiled their Draken concept, a quarter litre naked motorcycle at the 2014 Auto Expo. This motorcycle is expected to be a platform for the next generation Apache which will hit the Indian markets next year. In order to gauge its response from its international markets, the Hosur-based company showcased the Draken in one of the showrooms in Indonesia.
Indonesia is one big market for TVS. It has been selling many products in this country since many years. The customer buying pattern there is somewhat similar to India and that’s why we see many Indian made products being launched there. TVS could have displayed the Draken concept at selected showrooms in metro after the 2014 Auto Expo but it decided to fly the only concept to Indonesia to see the market reactions. We won’t be surprised if the Indonesian market is given first preference over the Indian market.
The TVS Draken is powered by a 250c single-cylinder liquid-cooled fuel-injected engine that produces 38.5bhp at 12,000rpm and maximum torque of 23Nm at 9,500rpm. This engine is mated to a six-speed gearbox with one down and five up gearshift pattern.
It is still not clear if the Draken concept has been co-developed with BMW, TVS’ technology partner, but we can clearly say that this naked street bike is sure to give a tough time to KTM 390 Duke ABS and few other fully-faired motorcycles like the Kawasaki Ninja 300 and the soon to be launched Yamaha R25.