Aprilia’s 457cc platform was always going to spawn multiple offerings – the RS 457 sportbike was the first to be launched just last year. Now, what seems to be a Tuareg 457 rally racer has been spotted out on test.
- Engine casing on this bike is the same as the RS 457
- Finished in the Aprilia rally racing colours
- Road-going bike will be look different
Aprilia Tuareg 457 rally racer seen for the first time
The bike that has been spied bears the Tuareg badge so there’s no prizes for guessing what it will be called. But what needs to be clarified at the outset is that this is still a rough rally racing prototype, which means a proper road-legal motorcycle is still at least a couple of years away.
What can also be seen is that the left engine casing is a dead giveaway for the RS 457’s. That definitely means that a road-going Tuareg 457 from Aprilia is on the cards. Of course, outside of the engine, there are likely to be no similarities between this bike and the RS 457.
Expect the big Tuareg 660’s design language to trickle down to the smaller 457. EICMA is just around the corner and we hope that there will be some variant of the RS 457 that breaks cover, although a production-spec Tuareg is highly unlikely. What is a possibility is the rumoured Tuono 457: essentially a stripped-down, upright version of the RS 457. We’ll find out soon enough.
Vishal Venugopal
Ved Janve
Azaman Chothia
