DSK Motowheels has launched a new entry-level Italian superbike – the DSK Benelli TNT 25 in the Indian market.

The 250 cc street bike is being introduced in standard and premium variants priced at Rs 1.68 lakh and Rs 1.75 lakh (ex- show room Pune), respectively.

The bike had made its global debut in China around three months ago, and is the sixth Benelli product to be launched here since the Italian brand was first introduced in the country in March.

The new bike has been tweaked for Indian driving conditions with a beefed up suspension and higher (160 mm) ground clearance. It will be assembled at DSK Motowheel’s plant in Wai.

“We expect to sell around 8,000 units of the TNT 25 in the next 12 months,” Shirish Kulkarni, Chairman, DSK Motowheels, said, adding that over 250 soft bookings had already been received.

The highlights of the TNT 25 include a single cylinder, 249 cc, 4-stroke engine that generates a power of 28.15 Bhp and torque of 21.61 Nm. The only difference in the two variants is the tyres – the standard comes with MRF tyres, while the premium version has Metzeler tyres.

The Wai plant, which is a leased facility, currently assembles around 25 bikes per day, around 60 per cent of which are Benelli brands, while the rest are Hyosung bikes. In 2015, the company has sold around 975 Benelli bikes and 1,100 Hyosung bikes.

While around Rs 150 crore has so far been invested at Wai, the company has recently acquired 22 acres of land at Talegaon to set up its own facility that will also help its expansion plans. It expects to all its operations to this single facility by March or April 2016.

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