We’ve all been expecting Mahindra’s first motorcycle to be a polished and prepared Kinetic Boss with a Chinese engine. In a turnaround of sorts, Mahindra today issued its first ever press release discussing certain details of its upcoming motorcycle range.

Mahindra’s motorcycle will benefit from technology developed by Engines engineering, an Italian engineering firm which it acquired in 2008. There’s plenty of speculation going around, the one that we’d like to believe is the motorcycle featured on this teaser campaign is a 150-200cc performance bike with at least 18bhp on tap.

The motorcycle has been tested in Italy and is coming to India, as per Mahindra.

So what are you expecting? Will it be a much bigger motorcycle at a very affordable price?

Press Release

Mahindra Motorcycles – coming soon!

September 11, 2010, Mumbai: The eagerly anticipated launch of Mahindra 2 Wheelers’ new range of motorcycles is just around the corner and to add to the excitement, there’s a specially created teaser campaign that’s all set to hit TV screens in the coming week.

Shot extensively on the world renowned Vallelunga Moto GP race track in Rome, Italy, the ad highlights the bikes’ Italian design credentials and the fact that they have undergone rigorous tests in Italy before coming to India.

About the campaign

It’s test day at Vallelunga as a team of engineers and a few spectators look towards the race track with eager anticipation. All attention is focused on the circuit as a bike appears in the distance and zooms past the curious onlookers. The camera then cuts to the pit stop and control rooms where you see various monitors displaying the evaluation parameters used to test the bike.

The engineers are elated – the bike has passed the test with flying colours!

The ad has the message: Tested In Italy, Coming to India – Mahindra Motorcycles towards the end.

The ad ends with a musical tune sign off that has the potential to become a signature tune for all advertising of Mahindra 2 Wheelers. While the ad does not show the details of the bike/s, it certainly leaves the viewer with the impression that the Mahindra bikes would have all the latest technological gadgetry courtesy the Italian lineage. The ad will be visible on all key genres of channels ranging from music, movies, mass, news, regional and sports and also on Youtube.

The ad gently exhorts the potential motorcycle buyer to postpone his decision and check out the bikes at the Mahindra show room.

The ad was directed by Andrea Ranalli who is renowned for his work on European Moto GP circuits. The Creative Director is Robby Mathew of Interface Communications.

Mahindra 2 Wheelers’ motorcycles incorporate design elements from the Bologna based Engines Engineering, a boutique design house which was acquired by the Mahindra Group in 2008. In addition to Mahindra 2 Wheelers, Engines Engineering also undertakes design work for companies such as Ducati, MV Augusta and Benelli.

After meeting with huge success in the scooters market in India, M&M is now eying the motorcycle market. Over the past few months there have been indications from the company officials regarding their plan of entering the motorcycle market.

As per Anoop Mathur, Mahindra two-Wheelers’ president, they are already ahead of their sales target by selling one lakh scooters in just 10 months as opposed to their target of selling the same number of units in 18 months. Their immediate plan is to enter the motorcycle market.

As per Anoop Mathur they are planning to launch their first motorcycle by the end of 2010. This motorcycle would be assembled at the same manufacturing unit where the scooters are assembled.

As per the sources the company is working on a motorcycle at its Italy based Engines Engineering which was taken over by M&M in the year 2008.

We expect the first motorcycle from M&M to be from the commuter segment which is based on Kinetic Boss.

After bringing in a commuter bike, M&M would also be launching a high performance bike in the months to come. It was earlier reported the M&M has been talking to UK and Italian based motorcycle manufacturers to launch a high end product.

In order to penetrate the Indian motorcycle market, M&M would have to arrive with some unique and interesting products as it would not be easy to stand against the likes of Hero Honda and Bajaj.

Source: BankBazaar

Now that the 125cc Cevalo from SYM is ruled out as Mahindra’s first motorcycle, the quest is on to learn what’s happening behind closed doors of Mahindra’s development centre.

The company is working on a motorcycle which will be launched in 2010. On his twitter page, Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman of the Mahindra group replied to a question on superbikes and whether the company is developing one based on the concept it showed at the Auto Expo.

Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman Mahindra Group -

It’s coming! U won’t hv to wt long

We don’t think Mr.Mahindra is going bestow upon us something close to 1,000cc or 100bhp. But deep down inside, we hope we’re wrong.

Image Credit – Motoroids