Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) is believed to have fully sold out its allotted India quota of CB300R performance bike for the year.
Bookings of the bike costing Rs 2.41 lakh swelled to 500 units within two months of the launch, much higher than what the company had projected.
However, HMSI, which is India’s second largest two-wheeler maker, is still accepting bookings for the bike.
The café racer inspired model will compete against TVS Apache RR310, BMW G 310R, Bajaj Dominar, Yamaha R3, KTM Duke 390, the 350cc range of Royal Enfield (Eicher Motors), Kawasaki Ninja, Mahindra Mojo to name a few.
Although some of these bikes cater to different customers, they all fall in the 300-400cc engine capacity range. As per the Society of India Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the segment of bikes having engine capacity between 250cc and 350cc was flat with sales of 7.73 lakh during 2018-19 as against 7.68 lakh sold in 2017-18.
The model is HMSI’s maiden attempt at the unconventional motorcycle segment of street bike with a retro design theme, which is not gaining ground across brands.
The CB300R is powered by a 286cc liquid cooled engine that generates peak power of nearly 31ps. The CB300R will feature full LED headlamps, LCD instrument display, runner mounted steel handlebar, two-channel ABS. The bike weighs 147 kg without fuel.
The CB300R will be brought to India in kit format. Thereafter, it will be assembled at HMSI’s factory in north India. This is also the third model (after CBR 650 and Africa Twin) that the company will assemble in India.
HMSI retails the model through its limited 22 premium dealerships called Honda Wing World, which has outlets in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Cochin and Pune. It otherwise has a 'regular' network of 5,700 outlets.
