Honda India to launch Africa Twin by mid-2017

Honda is planning to launch the Africa Twin for the Indian market by mid-2017. This news was confirmed by Yadvinder Guleria, senior vice president, sales & marketing, HMSI.

The Africa Twin was unveiled for the Indian market at 2016 Auto Expo and was supposed to go on sale in the same year. However, the company postponed the launch due to the damage caused to Honda’s factory in Hamamatsu due to an earthquake. The Africa Twin is manufactured in this factory; however, the company will assemble the bike in India via the completely-knocked down (CKD) route.

The Japanese manufacturer will bring the six-speed DCT version to India and won’t sell the manual version. When this happens, the Africa Twin will be the only automatic adventure touring motorcycle in India. Powering this motorcycle is a 998cc liquid-cooled parallel-twin engine that produces 84bhp and 98Nm of maximum torque.

We’re expecting a price tag of Rs 10 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) for this adventure tourer. This Japanese touring motorcycle competes with the Triumph Tiger XR, Ducati Multistrada, Suzuki V-Strom 1000 and the Kawasaki Versys 1000.