Benelli – a company that sells a range of inline four-cylinder big bikes in India also has something small in its portfolio – the TNT 135.
This mini bike was unveiled at the 2015 EICMA show, however, it hasn’t been launched in India yet. The promoters of Benelli’s parent company – Group Qianjiang – wants to introduce this uber-cool motorcycle in the Indian market, but DSK Benelli isn’t sure about its success in India. The Indian arm believes that the consumers would fail to accept the TNT 135, due to its size and the price it would be launched at. While the Indian market did get a mini two-wheeler – the Honda Navi – last year, one of the main reasons the customers are buying it because of its price, which is the lowest among all the Honda scooters.
In case of the TNT 135, there are a few premium components like upside-down front forks and a twin-pipe exhaust. There’s also the exposed trellis frame, fat tyres and the TNT 25 inspired design which makes the TNT 135 good to look at. All these things won’t come cheap and in order to make it financially feasible for the company, DSK Benelli has to price it right; possibly between Rs 1.35 lakh Rs 1.5 lakh. For this price range, there are also rival bikes like the KTM 200 Duke and the Yamaha FZ25 which offer more features than the Benelli.
The company is currently in the process of doing extensive market research for this product. But for now, the launch has been postponed by a few months.
