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Our trip through the week’s stories, including the new Jeep Grand Cherokee, Mazda’s US-bound EV, and Elon Musk’s best week ever. More
2021 Aprilia Tuono
At the time of its launch, Aprilia Tuono 660 will rival the likes of Kawasaki Z 650 and the upcoming Triumph Trident 660
After a long wait, Aprilia has finally revealed its upcoming middleweight roadster Tuono 660 ahead of its India launch. The Italian bikemaker had first revealed a concept version of the new Touno 660 back at the EICMA in Milan in 2019. Interestingly, the final product is very similar to the concept showcased earlier.
The naked street fighter is based on the same underpinnings as its faired sibling RS 660 which was also recently revealed. Tuono 660 was spotted testing on Italian roads on multiple occasions in recent past. Aprilia likes to call it a scaled-down version of its flagship naked superbike Tuono 1100.
Design
Starting with its design, it gets a signature three-pod headlight setup which is inspired by its fully faired sibling. These are nicely rounded by LED DRLs which accentuates its visual appeal.
Despite being a naked motorcycle, it adopts a semi-faired design with the engine and other mechanical components exposed from sides even though it features a large underbelly cowl that leads to a short exhaust pipe. It also carries forward the same fuel tank and alloy wheels from RS 660.
Aprilia Tuono 660
It will be made available in three colour options- Iridium Grey, Concept Black and a new Acid Gold colour scheme which is also offered in RS 660. Seating position is noticeably aggressive with yoke mounted “Renthal” style clip-on handlebars and rear-set footpegs.
As mentioned earlier mechanically, the naked Tuono 660 is similar to its faired sibling. It has the same suspension setup from Kayaba although with a slightly different tuning. It gets 41mm USD forks at front and a preload adjustable mono-shock at rear.
Features on offer
In terms of features, it gets a fully digital instrument cluster and a host of electronic aids under Aprilia’s Performance Ride Control system. This system consists of features such as multi-level traction control, cornering ABS, anti-wheelie control, cruise control, engine brake and five selectable engine maps.
Aprilia Tuono 660
Along with these, Tuono 660 comes with a six-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU) which offers ride-by-wire technology and five riding modes- three road-based and two track-based.
Mechanical Details
Performance is the most crucial aspect, its 659cc parallel-twin engine with a 270-degree crank holds great value. This unit is also offered in RS 660 although it is slightly detuned in this naked motorcycle.
Aprilia Tuono 660
In Tuono 660, this unit cranks out 95 bhp which is 5 horses less than its fully-faired derivative and a torque output of 67 Nm. Even with the detuning, the naked roadster feels exhilarating to ride since it weighs only 183 kg which translates to an impressive power to weight ratio.
In the USA, this naked motorcycle will be offered at USD 10,499 (INR 7.69 lakh) for the standard model and USD 10,699 (INR 7.84 lakh) for the trippy Acid Gold colour scheme. In the UK it will be retailed at £9700 (INR 9.65 lakh). Aprilia is also set to launch a product based on the same 660cc platform later this year named Tuareg 660. Aprilia Tuono 660 and RS 660 will be made available in India in the middle of this year after country-specific homologations are carried out. More
Image – MRD Vlogs
Similar to trends witnessed in the past, most automakers have increased prices of their products at the beginning of new year
In the two-wheeler segment, most products by Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj, KTM, Kawasaki, and others have undergone a price hike. Honda has also increased prices across the range including CB350 that was launched last year in September.
Royal Enfield Meteor and Classic price hike – January 2021
Talking about Royal Enfield Classic 350, its prices have been increased for all variants. The entry-level single-channel ABS version now costs Rs 1.63 lakh, an increase of Rs 1,873. The top-spec version that comes with dual-channel ABS along with other features is now available at Rs 1.88 lakh. This is an increase of Rs 2,045.
Royal Enfield Classic 350 price list Jan 2021
Classic 350 is currently the undisputed king in 200cc-500cc motorcycle segment, commanding a market share of around 50%. It will soon be launched in its next-gen avatar, wherein it will be getting an engine and platform upgrade, Tripper navigation and a host of other features. CB350 and Meteor 350 sales are also rising, but it remains to be seen if they can maintain the momentum.
Royal Enfield has also increased prices of its products including Meteor 350 and Classic 350. Meteor 350 was launched in November last year and it came with a range of updates such as new engine, new chassis and first-in-segment Tripper navigation. Meteor is available in three variants, Fireball, Stellar and Supernova.
Royal Enfield Meteor 350, Honda CB350 price list Jan 2021
Meteor Fireball now costs Rs 1,78,744, an increase of Rs 2,927 over the earlier price. Stellar and Supernova variants now cost Rs 1,84,337 and Rs 1,93,656, an increase of Rs 3,010 and Rs 3,146, respectively. This makes Meteor Supernova variant costlier than top-spec DLX Pro variant of CB350.
Honda CB350 new prices January 2021
CB350 was launched at a starting price of Rs 1.85 lakh (ex-showroom), which made it expensive than rivals Royal Enfield Meteor 350 and Classic 350 right from start. Honda is not known to adopt an aggressive pricing policy for its premium products and the same has been the case with CB350. The motorcycle is offered in two variants, DLX and DLX Pro, both of which have undergone a price revision.
Honda CB350 DLX new price is Rs 1,86,500, which is an increase of Rs 1.5k over the earlier price. The pro variant now costs Rs 1,92,500, an increase of Rs 2.5k. Although the price hike looks manageable, it may still prompt specific customers to think about relatively affordable options such as Meteor or Classic.
Apart from higher pricing, Honda CB350 also faces the challenge of limited availability. The motorcycle is currently sold only through Honda BigWing dealerships, which are much fewer in numbers as compared to standard Honda dealerships. This makes CB350 inaccessible in large parts of the country. However, things may improve in the future, as Honda is working proactively to increase the number of BigWing dealerships. More
This unibody pickup, possibly arriving by the end of this year, should share components with the Bronco Sport crossover. More
This week, the Window Shop crew was tasked with looking for online listings of underrated cars. As defined in the brief, an underrated car is one that was reviewed poorly and unappreciated in its time but that now seems like something you’d want to own. After all, time heals all wounds. We set a $20,000 budget for no other reason than it would make our search a little easier and off we went.Contributor Jonathon Ramsey’s pick is the oldest of the bunch, but even after nearly 40 years, not enough time has gone by to make any of us reconsider the AMC Spirit. Sure, the pride of Kenosha, Wisconsin, might have predated turning cars into four-wheelers, and its legacy can be seen in today’s crossovers, but the Spirit’s performance—it takes 20.0 seconds to hit the quarter-mile—remains comprehensively terrible. Our other contributor on this episode, the excitable John Pearley Huffman, chooses a late-model Buick Lacrosse, which he declares to be the last Buick car. Senior editor Joey Capparella points out that his Buick, the final Regal, is actually the last car to wear the tri-shield. Does it matter that the Regal was also an Opel Insignia? Does it matter that deputy testing director K.C. Colwell’s mother-in-law owns one? Does any of this matter?Speaking of Colwell, still reeling from an uncharacteristic WS loss last week, presents a car that C/D rated quite highly—even giving it a 10Best award—but that never caught on with buyers and should therefore be considered underrated. A debate about what it means to be underrated breaks out. Watch the entire episode and you might learn something useful, like that Ferdinand Piëch hated illuminated steering-wheel controls and also where Capparella went to college.
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After over a decade of racing, Gymkhana videos, and one-off drift builds, Ken Block’s partnership with Ford is coming to an end. More
As General Motors moves toward electrification, it has changed its logo and kicked off an ad campaign promoting its commitment to EVs.
The new logo fades from light blue to darker blue and displays the GM letters in lowercase type, is intended to evoke “the clean skies of a zero-emissions future and the energy of the Ultium [battery] platform,” GM said.
General Motors announced in November that it’s speeding up its plan toward electrification and is now aiming to have 30 electric vehicles on the market by 2025.
For the first time in a decade—and only the fifth time in its history—General Motors is getting a new logo, one which features lowercase lettering. The change comes as the automaker is on the brink of introducing a large number of electric vehicles and is seeking to make its image reflect that change.
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GM revealed three different variations of the new logo, one of which is black, one which is the traditional GM blue, and another which fades from a light blue to a darker blue through the lettering. The automaker says that the latter of the three evokes “the clean skies of a zero-emissions future and the energy of the Ultium platform.” Much like the GM logos of the past, the look is clean and simple.
Ultium is the name GM has assigned to its electric-vehicle platform and the batteries going into said vehicles. That platform was revealed for the first time in March 2020 and is going to be first introduced in the GMC Hummer EV, which was revealed in October. It will then shortly thereafter be seen on the Cadillac Lyriq and other electric vehicles in GM’s lineup.
General Motors
General Motors has accelerated its plans for electrification, saying in November that it aims to have 30 electric vehicles on the market by 2025, at which point it expects the cost of its Ultium batteries to drop by 60 percent from current prices. GM also announced an additional $7 billion investment in electric and autonomous tech, bringing its total investment in such technology to $27 billion through 2025.
In a call with investors last year, an auto analyst raised the question of why General Motors doesn’t change its name altogether. He proposed GM become simply Ultium to reflect the direction that GM is headed, toward electrification. GM CEO Mary Barra said that the automaker wouldn’t rule out a future name change, but at the moment is more focused on developing future electric vehicles.
Of course, a change of a logo isn’t as drastic as a name change, but it’s further proof of where GM sees itself going.
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This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More
Hyundai initially confirmed reports in Korean media that it was talking to Apple but has since partly retracted its earlier statement. More
