After months of speculation, Bajaj has finally confirmed that its upcoming 400cc (or rather near-400cc) motorcycle, the VS400, will be called 'Dominar 400' and not Kratos, and will launched on December 15. The company says that the name has been derived from a Spanish word that means “to excel, or exceed in power.” On November 18, the company confirmed that the production of this bike was well under way at its company’s plant in Chakan. Deliveries of the Dominar 400 are expected to start by January 2017.
Just like what the company did when it derived the Pulsar 200 motor from the KTM 200 motor, the Dominar’s 373cc single-cylinder mill will be based on the KTM 390's. While both motors will share the same basic structure, the Dominar’s motor will be tuned differently. We believe that the Bajaj motor will be in a milder state of tune, compared to KTM, owing to its touring nature. Just like with the Pulsar 200s, we can also expect this motor to sport triple-spark technology. Power and torque figures haven’t been announced yet, but we expect this engine to put out about 35hp of peak power and about 30Nm of peak torque.
Apart from that, the Dominar will feature beefy telescopic forks up front, a monoshock at the back and disc brakes at both ends. There has been some news that the standard version of the bike will get single-channel ABS, while dual-channel ABS will be offered as an option. Based on what Rajiv Bajaj said a few months ago, it is understood that these mid-capacity offerings from the company will be available under the 'Dominar' brand going forward, with the 'Pulsar' name specifically referring to the smaller-capacity (220cc and below) performance bikes. But all will be revealed at the official launch which is just a couple of weeks away. So keep watching this space!
Azaman Chothia
Vishal Venugopal
