[ashwin1224]

Not surprised at all with the price, this is typical BMW. Had it been priced competently, people would have begun questioning its BMW-iness. Over priced and overhyped, as all things outta Bavaria are. But Hey, I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing. I can think of a few people who dont need anything more than a 250cc commuter, but want to avoid looking like common plebs on the KTMs and REs, etc. They'd also want to avoid these plebeian dealerships like the plague. To them this 310R makes good sense, premium pricing means commoners wont associate with it and BMW tags means the moment someone sees you riding it they know you've got ///Money.

No where else would people pay such a heavy premium for the brand, BMW knows us all too well and is out for blood with the 310 twins. I wont be surprised if it does decent numbers.

On a side note, to the people comparing it to the Duke 390 vis a vis international pricing probably didnt see that the duke costs 3.7lac, and the 310r is priced competitively at 3.43lacs (USA). While both the prices are costlier, it only further emphasizes how much of a bargain the Indian Duke 390 is! Almost all 300cc+ launches since the 390 seem like marketing ploys by KTM to embolden the 390s value in the enthusiasts' minds.

[GTO]

Just sharing some sweet pictures received in a press release:

[wangdu]

Originally Posted by timuseravan

I know "it doesn't have to make sense to me", but a honest question to people considering the G310R - why would you buy it over the Duke 390?..
So what exactly makes it worth almost one lakh over the D390?

(I wont talk about the GS as the mythical Adv390 is yet to launch)

Clearly the twins isn't for those who have KTMs on loan. 75k ex is the price diff and the prospective buyers IMO are-
1. Young & old alike who might like KTM but can't think of associating themselves with a brand ridden by many boorish (if i may so) squids they see on KTM
1.1 Rich guys who think it ain't good if it ain't costly
2. Young fellas for who the brand & badge is social status symbol - a dopamine of sorts; wide spread in India
3. Enthusiasts who don't like 390 for any reason and who can think of upgrading from Duke 200/250 to another non-domestic brand
4. of course it won't sell like mass market product and BMW would know it. But it would sell enough to make those numbers hit profit.
5. A relatively lesser number of 30+ aged enthusiasts have made way more costlier Kawasaki, HD, Triumphs profitable; so a 75k extra spend for 310 (over 390) by the larger, younger crowd seems plausible.

Motorrad has pulled out few of the best sales guys I know from HD/Triumph houses here and believe me they know how to sell. One of the sales guy told me that they camped in high class neighborhood markets & college zones prior to launch and got healthy amount of bookings already.

Let's see the numbers.

Originally Posted by ashwin1224

.. I wont be surprised if it does decent numbers.

me neither, not at all.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by wangdu

Clearly the twins isn't for those who have KTMs on loan. 75k ex is the price diff
.

What has loan do to anything with a bike purchase? Anyone can afford a 10 lakh bike with a loan. Stop creating an image that 310 twins are for rich guys. It is a meagre 500 extra rupees in emi terms. A guy who can afford 390 can definitely afford the BMW, but he won't. Why? Coz it isn't worth it

310 twins are for uninformed people who don't know where to put their money in.

And please validate how a BMW 310 is superior than a ninja z250 twin? Kawasaki is no lesser brand than BMW in bikes.

It would be as profitable as versys 300.

[nasirkaka]

Overpriced for sure and i think it was all well woven trap. For the last year or so, somehow they have managed to create an aura of the brand and premiumness resulting in cost of the bike being speculated at 4 to 4.5 Ex. Forums and threads like this one is added to their cause including speculative journalism from our auto magazine industry. All this created a general feel that the bike will be priced close to 4L Ex and when it was launched at 3.5, everyone is happy as it is much below what we expected. what a smart move!! but 3.5 ex is also overpriced, IMO.

4L OTR in Bangalore would have been sweet. At present, with RSA the OTR in bangalore comes to 4.67L. Add some basic but must-have protective accessories like engine/crash guard, spools, fork sliders, radiator guard, aux lights, knuckle guard, etc and the price exceeds 5L. Add secondary set of accessories such as center stand, decent aux lights, a top box, and exhaust, a tall windscreen and the price exceeds 6L.

I am talking about G310GS. The naked variant will hardly see any numbers and is DOA for sure.

Will i still buy the G310GS? I have been waiting for and require a light weight comfortable bike, for a while now. Himalayan got me excited but the harsh engine, power (lack of it) plus lack of ABS, and it was a big NO. Versys 300x will again be more expensive to buy and much more expensive to maintain. KTM 390 adventure is atleast 2 years away from deliveries and i cant wait that long. So out of lack of options, i will have to mostly settle for the baby GS for now, not happily but :( . Need to take a closet look and maybe a small ride to take the final call.

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

What has loan do to anything with a bike purchase? Anyone can afford a 10 lakh bike with a loan. Stop creating an image that 310 twins are for rich guys. It is a meagre 500 extra rupees in emi terms. A guy who can afford 390 can definitely afford the BMW, but he won't. Why? Coz it isn't worth it

310 twins are for uninformed people who don't know where to put their money in.

And please validate how a BMW 310 is superior than a ninja z250 twin? Kawasaki is no lesser brand than BMW in bikes.

It would be as profitable as versys 300.

The only game BMW is playing here is the badge game, hell i won't even look back at G310R if it passes me on the street, the bike looks like an ordinary commuter. Remove the BMW badge, and it is as good as TVS Apache non faired version. Best of luck to people spending so much money for the BMW badge, and then some more every time the bike enters the Service center. Oh and to speak of badges, in cities like Bangalore, they don't hold much value anymore, anyway. It will always be like, oh you got the cheapest that BMW had to offer, good for you man!!

GS will definitely grab eyeballs, but then the target audience is different, and it sits well there for now.

[wangdu]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

What has loan do to anything with a bike purchase? Anyone can afford a 10 lakh bike with a loan. Stop creating an image that 310 twins are for rich guys. It is a meagre 500 extra rupees in emi terms. A guy who can afford 390 can definitely afford the BMW, but he won't. Why? Coz it isn't worth it

310 twins are for uninformed people who don't know where to put their money in.

And please validate how a BMW 310 is superior than a ninja z250 twin? Kawasaki is no lesser brand than BMW in bikes.

It would be as profitable as versys 300.

you see the college goer enthusiast of low middle class who buy Duke/RC and I know many in NCR have taken loans for their loving Dads to pay. This is huge crowd and when such enthusiast sees BMW's pricing his interest could wane off as he is already on a stretch; that's all.

Agree, brand might appeal for the uninformed but spec wise alone. And a good option for many who don't like the looks of Duke/other.

I didn't say BMW are superior to other bikes. z250 is hardly known out there. The street oriented tussle IMO is between famous Duke & 310 R. Again, i think BMW won't fight the volume game (and can't win over 390) but instead make its numbers based on margins.

Really it's an interesting market out there, mixed with various type of consumers. Only numbers unravel the mystery; and per Rush lane, there are 1000 confirmed bookings of the twins already.

cheers.

[dextor]

If we gauge at the BMW presence in Indian cities, the pricing is done accordingly. They know their showrooms & service centers cannot handle much load. Increasing the sales presence will result into quality issues as well as big load on the headquarter in Germany - this is one thing Europeans don't like.

Best thing as a result is premium pricing which will handle both issues - lesser load & achieving estimated profits.
Selling 100 with 10% profit = Selling 25 with 30-40% profit.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

Well, with every launch in the 300-400cc segment(3 launches so far- RR310, N400 and now BMW twins), I just am patting myself for buying the 2017 KTM RC 390.

There is no better bike at that price, and there isn't going to be any bike in the future too. Regarding BMW , all the best for selling 100bikes a year. Even the RR310 is overpriced for the lukewarm performance it offers, guess BMW wanted to win the absurd pricing company tag from TVS, by a mile!

While the KTM is better performer and better VFM, not everyone makes a purchase just because of superior performance. People also consider brand, build, looks . My neighbor bought a RR310, though I haven't tested it, RR310 seems better built than KTM.

[Bhodrolok]

Originally Posted by timuseravan

I know "it doesn't have to make sense to me", but a honest question to people considering the G310R - why would you buy it over the Duke 390?

I am 35 year old, I can ride around in either of the twins. I absolutely love the new 390 but I wouldn't be caught dead riding it at my age. I feel KTM is a much younger bike while the Beemers are a little grown up.

[AbhisheKulkarni]

Considering that the localized N300 with a parallel twin is going to be launched at an ex-showroom lesser than that of the G310R, I'd say that the G310R is simply dead-on-arrival.

As for the BMW 310 range, it'd be fair to say that a TVS bike with a BMW logo at this price - doesn't feel reasonable.

Just doesn't pull the heart-strings, price be damned.

How I wish KTM designed their bikes with a little more subtlety and class for the guys with a mid-life crisis. That'd be the perfect product for us to consider!

[dextor]

Originally Posted by AbhisheKulkarni

Considering that the localized N300 with a parallel twin is going to be launched at an ex-showroom lesser than that of the G310R, I'd say that the G310R is simply dead-on-arrival.

I can see in Kawasaki India website an offer banner which says 41k discount on Ninja 300 (2017 model) + Kawasaki riding jacket.
This is already like 50K off taking the price of Ninja to 3.1L

[driverabhi]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Have you made the decision driverabhi? Interested to know your decision on the G310R booking. Hope the dealership has reached out to you for an early TD oppurtunity.

I just came back after cancelling my booking . Although I am a bit heart broken. Personally I felt that the price does not justify the product in offer.
Over there in the showroom, two G310Rs were there - Black and Perl White. Bikes look good in person.

I could have easily got a test ride of the bike. But then I resisted the temptation. It does not make any sense to check something that I have decided against of buying.
By the way, Perl White has been priced at 3.91L on the road whereas the black and red ones are 3.78L on the road in Bangalore. The ex-showroom price of the Perl White bike itself is at the higher side. Its around 3.08L or something. I asked if I could click a picture of the price breakup which I was denied politely.

To make the mood little lighter, I thought of a scenario that might have happened at BMW office. Please mind that below is a complete work of fiction, born in my sad mind:

BMW Motorrad Head: So what is the price of Duke 390?
BMW Employee: Its around 3L +- 10k (and I think he did not mention that this is the OTR price)
BMW Motorrad Head: Ok, lets launch G310R at 2.99L because earlier we said that G310R will be in the same ball park as Duke 390.

And the bike was launched at the said price, ex-showroom

Alas, now I have to begin my hunt again.

[man_of_steel]

Couldn't find any posts on this here, hence posting.

BMW North America Recalls G 310 GS and G 310 R Due to Sidestand/Frame Defect

The recall’s defect report says, “Over time, the section of the frame which encases the side stand bushing could eventually break. If the section of the frame which encases the side stand bushing broke while the motorcycle was stationary, it could fall over, and increase the risk of injury.”

https://ultimatemotorcycling.com/201...ect-2017-2018/

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by driverabhi

I asked if I could click a picture of the price breakup which I was denied politely.

Here's the Bangalore price list received via whatsapp -