New spy shots have revealed that TVS has begun testing the updated RTR 160 4V. The motorcycle that has proven to be a popular model for the company can be seen equipped with a new LED headlight in the pictures. More importantly, the bike is also believed to be BS6 compliant.
The headlight, which will most certainly be an LED unit, looks a lot like the one on the TVS Draken X21 concept from Auto Expo 2014. It looks narrower than the current halogen bulb-powered unit, but has a protruding chin that’s similar to what we’ve seen on the current-gen 390 Duke. At present, the only TVS model on sale with an LED headlight is the Apache RR 310 with its bi-LED setup, and that has proved to be more than sufficient at lighting up the road.
As previously mentioned, this particular bike is also believed to be testing BS6 related changes. It is said to have changes to the internals of the engine and exhaust, in order to make it meet the stringent emission norms that are set to come into place from April 1, 2020. Like most manufacturers, TVS is probably going to have to hike the prices of its larger motorcycles quite significantly, as a switch to fuel injection seems unavoidable. TVS already sells an FI variant of the Apache RTR 160 4V; and at the moment, the price difference over the similarly specced carburettor version is Rs 6,000. That price gap may reduce with scale, but a big jump in price is to be expected. This is probably why TVS is looking at increasing the bike’s value with additional features.
Along with the LED headlight, we could TVS making additions to the instrument cluster. While it already displays more information than its direct rivals, we could see it get more features, including Bluetooth connectivity that’s similar to that found on the TVS Ntorq 125.
While the deadline for the emission norms is quite far away, the company could introduce the model much sooner, like other manufacturers plan to. This will smoothen out the process and avoid a messy situation like the one that occurred with the transition to BS4.
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