Piaggio dealers are gearing up to launch the latest and most affordable Aprilia model in the Indian market, the Storm 125, at Rs 65,000 (ex-showroom, India). Dealers are now suggesting that the Storm 125 will make its way to showrooms by the end of this month.
The Storm was first showcased in India at the 2018 Auto Expo, where Aprilia also launched the SR125. At the time, the company had mentioned that would launch the Storm by the end of 2018, but that got pushed forward to first quarter of 2019.
We have also learnt that the upcoming scooter will be available in three colour schemes – red, yellow and black. All three of which will most likely have a matte finish. As can be seen from the image, Aprilia is not exaggerating when it says the Storm will feature bold graphics.
Other than the graphics, the Storm 125 shares the same styling cues with the SR as they otherwise share the same components – including the chassis, drivetrain and brakes. The keen-eyed among you will notice that the Storm 125 is missing the grab-handles and uses a seat strap, instead; which could be a cost-cutting measure. You can expect Aprilia to sell the grab rail as an optional extra, as they do with the side-stand on the SRs.
The biggest difference, however, is that the Storm 125 runs on redesigned 12-inch wheels as opposed to the 14-inch wheels seen on the SR 125 and SR 150. The Storm that was shown at the 2018 Auto Expo also got Vee Rubber-branded off-road-oriented tyres, with a 120/80 tyre at the front and a 130/80 tyre at the rear. We expect to see this on the production model as well. In comparison, the SRs sports 120/70 section rubber at both the ends and recently switched from Vee Rubber to MRF Nylogrip Zappers. It’ll be interesting to see if Aprilia was able to engineer a larger under-seat stowage area thanks to the space liberated by the smaller wheels.
We expect the Storm 125 to employ the same air-cooled, three-valve, single-cylinder engine seen on the SR 125. On the SR, it produces 9.5hp at 7,250rpm and 9.8Nm of torque at 6,250rpm. While we could see the company slightly retune the powertrain setup to account for the different application, power figures will remain very similar, if not the same.
The Storm 125 is expected to come equipped with CBS as standard at Rs 65,000 (ex-showroom, India). At this price, it will undercut the second-most affordable Aprilia – the CBS-equipped SR 125 – by around Rs 9,000. Interestingly, this will also put it at par with the TVS Ntorq 125, which is priced at Rs 65,010 (ex-showroom, Mumbai).
Azaman Chothia
Vishal Venugopal
