TVS Motor said the company would roll out the new four stroke 125 CC ‘TVS Flame’ in Tamilnadu on December 14 and would reach out pan India in January 2008.TVS will also be launching a three wheeler vehicle and an electric scooter apart from its upgraded version of TVS Star City, ‘Star Sports’ with a 110 CC engine. TVS would be selling about 200 units of Flame in Tamil Nadu December, with a target of 20,000 units per month once the all India launch happens next year. TVS would also increase its dealership in Indonesia from the current 12 to 100 by March 2008 and 200 by June next year, he said.TVS also said that exports had grown by 40 per cent last year. In volume terms, TVS exported about 13,500 units per month last year, which the company aims to increase to 20,000 units per month.”We exported about one lakh two wheelers last year.This year would be around 1.40 lakh. Next year we hope to take it to about two lakh units,”he said.”Value-wise last year’s exports was about Rs 350 crore which would touch Rs 500 crore this year,”K N Radhakrishnan, President, TVS Motor said adding they expected it to increase to Rs 800 crore next year.TVS plans to sell about 40,000 units of three wheelers including exports next year, he said.It would also launch an electric scooter in January in Gujarat, which had a market of 15,000 units per month for such scooters, he said. Flame 125cc is priced at Rs 45,000 ex-showroom Chennai and comes with disc brakes as an option.
The four-stroke, twin spark engine of Flame is propelled by controlled combustion variable timing intelligent (CC-VTi) technology. The CC-VTi technology, it is claimed, enables the bike to deliver highest mileage in its class even while ensuring high power. Bajaj claimed ownership of this twin spark technolgy and had said TVS may be using this particular technology in Flame, an accusation that TVS has dismissed as baseless.
Flame top speed and mileage(according to TVS)
According to Venu Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director of TVS Motor, “this is the highest technology product in the country. A 3-valve bike has been rolled out before, but this is the first time that a mass market roll-out is happening.” According to the Indian Driving Cycle (IDC), the bike could deliver a mileage of 82 kilometres a litre. “No vehicle (in this segment) anywhere nears this on mileage,” Mr. Srinivasan added.
Mr. Srinivasan insisted that mileage was not the key selling point of Flame. “We have made this without compromising on speed. The vehicle can touch a peak speed of 95 km per hour. Clearly, this is the most distinctively styled bike,” Mr. Srinivasan added.