The folks at Honda seem to be gearing up to bring a new underbone 150 which will not only up the ante on the sales volumes front but also give it an edge in the competitive racing front.
The largest of the Japanese two-wheeler makers Honda did win the underbone 150 class of Asia Road Racing Championship last year but was not even in the Top 5 this year. With a new, more performance-oriented underbone 150 product, Honda will be at an advantage to take on Yamaha who usually dominates the class.
We expect this new underbone 150 to share cycle parts with the Honda Click 150i which is retailed in markets like Thailand and the Philippines. Interestingly, Honda has updated its entire range of underbone 150s in ASEAN region which includes products like the Click 150i, Supra GTR150 and Winner. The new underbone may emerge as a major update to the Honda Click 150i or the marketing team may spin off a new brand to bring in some fresh blood.
This new underbone 150 will be suspended on a conventional telescopic fork at the front and its rear may have a motorcycle-inspired monoshock. Brakes are petal disc at both ends and may get ABS as an option depending on the market. The powerplant will be the same 149.16 cc unit seen in the Honda CBR150R. This liquid-cooled DOHC engine in the faired motorcycle produces 17.1 PS of power and 14.4 Nm of torque. We expect the outputs in the new underbone 150 to be slightly lower.
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Features list will include LED headlamps, LED taillamp, alloy wheels, Smart Key fob with keyless ignition and all-digital instrumentation. Also on offer will be Idle Stop system and Honda Enhanced Smart Power (eSP).
This new underbone 150 won't be launched in India. Here, the BS-VI compliant Honda Activa 125 BS-VI was launched last month.
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