At the recent launch event of the updated Aprilia and Vespa scooters, we have learned that Aprilia intends to launch two new scooters in India next year. The first of these will be the Aprilia Storm 125, first shown at the 2018 Auto Expo. The Storm was originally supposed to launch by the end of this year, but that has now been pushed forward to the first quarter of 2019.
The bigger news, however, is the second scooter, which Aprilia informs us is being developed specifically for the Indian market. There isn’t a lot known about this scooter at the moment, but we are given to understand that it will get a brand-new chassis, while its powertrain will come from the existing line-up. The use of a new chassis suggests that Aprilia could move away from the large 14-inch wheels – the only size currently available on its range in India. 14-inch wheels offer exceptional stability and great dynamics, but they come at the cost of a higher price and restricted under-seat stowage space. The new scooter is more likely to be fitted with 12-inch wheels.
Beyond this, there isn’t much more information available about the upcoming two-wheeler, but we believe that it will be positioned somewhere between the more affordable end of the spectrum to the middle of the range. Considering that the current Aprilia scooter range is heavily focused towards sporty riding, we expect that this new scooter will be more usable and a practical all-rounder with additional boot space and more pliant ride comfort.
Piaggio would have been logging the success of models like the TVS Ntorq 125 and the Honda Grazia in India – and you can be sure that it will be eyeing a slice of that pie; but we don’t believe this upcoming scooter will be just another run-of-the-mill segment contender. It should retain the youthful and fun virtues that the Italian brand stands for. We expect to see the launch of the so far unnamed new scooter in the second half of 2019 and we’ll update this as we find out more.
Azaman Chothia
Vishal Venugopal
