Suzuki V-Strom 250 could go on sale in India this year following its possible domestic debut at the 2020 Auto Expo
Suzuki Motorcycle India Limited is expected to showcase its V-Strom 250 adventure motorcycle at the 2020 Auto Expo. The 15th edition of the biennial motoring show could see Suzuki previewing the quarter-litre dual-purpose adventure tourer before its market debut sometime during the course of this year.
The Indian two-wheeler space has seen the arrival of many adventure bikes over the last few years and the trend has really caught on with enthusiasts. Taking advantage, Hero’s XPulse 200 has been performing well in sales while the Royal Enfield Himalayan acts as an accessible way to enter this segment in terms of pricing with good performance characteristics.
KTM India has just rolled out the 390 Adventure, priced at Rs. 2.99 lakh and it competes against BMW G310 GS and Kawasaki Versus X-300. Suzuki could jump onto the bandwagon with its V-Strom 250 and we do expect it to be priced at around Rs. 2.30 lakh to 2.50 lakh (ex-showroom) if positioned aggressively.
The V-Strom range is one of the highly popular advs across the globe and the V-Strom 650 XT is retailed in India already. Suzuki displayed the V-Strom 250 at the EICMA 2016 in Milan, Italy after its global premiere in China alongside the GSX-R250. It has plenty in common with the Inazuma 250, which was previously on sale in India.
The V-Strom 250 derives styling inspiration from the bigger V-Strom 650 and V-Strom 1000 and it uses Inazuma 250’s 248 cc liquid-cooled, four-stroke, parallel-twin engine. It delivers 25 PS of peak power at 8,000 rpm and 23.4 Nm of peak torque at 6,500 rpm and is connected to a six-speed transmission.
It comes equipped with long travel front suspension, disc brakes on both wheels with standard ABS, alloy wheels, 110/80-17 front and 140/70-17 rear tyres, spherical headlamp signature beak-like front cowl, steep front windshield, 15-litre fuel tank, digital instrument cluster and so on.
If the V-Strom 250 is heavily localised by sharing engine with the Gixxer 250 and SF 250, we may have it priced competitively. The Benelli TRK 251 could act as its direct rival upon arrival and is expected to be showcased at the 2020 Auto Expo as well.