The refreshed RTR 200 is being readied and will also get an LED headlamp along with other updates. Whether this update eventually makes it to the Apache RTR 160 4V as well, we’ll only find out further down the road. If this update is reserved for just the 200, it will help further differentiate the bike from its nearly identical younger sibling.
TVS gave the RTR 200 a slipper clutch about a year ago and this new update now appears to be lined up for the upcoming switch to BS6 emission norms. Like most manufacturers, TVS is probably going to have to hike the prices of its larger motorcycles quite significantly as a switch to fuel injection seems unavoidable. TVS already sells an FI variant of the Apache RTR 200 4V; and at the moment, the price difference over the similarly specced carburettor version is substantial at nearly Rs 13,000. That price gap may reduce with scale, but a big jump in price is to be expected, and that’s probably why TVS is looking at not just injecting fuel, but value as well, into this motorcycle.
The deadline for the shift to BS6 emission norms is April 1, 2020. However, many manufacturers have revealed that they will begin sales of the BS6 models well before that; this is to smoothen out the transition process and avoid a messy situation like the one that occurred with the transition to BS4 a couple of years ago. So it’s possible that we could see this updated TVS Apache RTR 200 go on sale either by year end, or in early 2020.