Assembly for the Honda CBR650F has commenced in India with the company producing 1 model every day and will be readying up around 30 units by the launch date scheduled next month.
Honda’s contender in the middleweight performance segment the ‘CBR650F’ will be arriving on the 4th of August this year and ahead of the launch in the coming weeks, the automaker has commenced assembling the sports bike in the country at its Manesar facility. Brought in via the CKD route with around 14 percent localisation, the Japanese giant is assembling one unit of the CBR650F in India every day and will ready up at least 25-30 units before the launch date. That said, the assembly period will be ramped up as per the market demand later on, states the company.
Honda dealerships have commenced accepting bookings for the CBR650F for a token amount of Rs. 50,000/- and has planned a shop-in-shop retail strategy for the premium model. Under phase one, the full faired sports bike will be sold through 10 selective dealerships, while the setup will be expanded to 20 dealerships by March 2016. The automaker will have dealerships across Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Cochin and Bhubaneshwar among others.
In addition, Honda India has trained the salesman and engineers themselves to handle the premium CBR650F and will ready with the initial set of dealerships by end of July. Doing a quick round up of specifications, the Honda CBR650F is powered by a 649cc in-line four-cylinder engine making 86 BHP and 62 Nm of torque, paired to a 6-speed gearbox. The bike was expected to be one of the most affordable four-cylinder engined motorcycles in India, but the current crown rests with the moderately new Benelli TNT 600i and TNT 600 GT models. Hence, pricing will be a key factor for Honda to make the full faired CBR650F a successful product in India.
