The latest entrant in the growing midsized motorcycle segment in India is the popular twin-cylinder entry level sportsbike from India Yamaha Motor – the liquid-cooled, 41bhp, parallel-twin, 321cc R3.

Speaking at the launch at the Buddh International Circuit today, Roy Kurien, vice-president, sales and marketing, Yamaha Motor India, said: “When we displayed our popular twin-cylinder R25 at the Delhi Auto Expo last year, the response that we got from the enthusiasts and the media was extremely good and encouraging. We have been following the top-down approach in India. Therefore, we brought big bikes first, following up with the launches of the FZ Series and scooters. The scooters have kept us busy over the past three years and now we thought it’s time to get back to our roots, which are the performance-oriented bikes.”

Yamaha has just announced the price of its R3, which is Rs 325,000 ex-showroom, Delhi. The model is brought into India from its Indonesian operation as a Completely Knocked Down (CKD) unit. With this, it becomes the second Japanese company after Kawasaki to bring a twin-cylinder entry level sportsbike in India. Yamaha says it expects to sell 2,000 units in the first year of the introduction of the R3.

While the R3 launched today lacks ABS (anti-lock braking system) as a much-needed feature, the company management says it is discussing the same and may launch an ABS variant of this model in the near future. Yamaha plans to begin despatching the R3s across select dealerships from August 20.