Not to take things lying down after the announcement of slew of sports oriented motorcycles from rival manufacturers Bajaj and Yamaha, Honda may roll out its new sporty 125cc Motorcycle CBF Stunner in August this year. If sources are to be believed the Japanese two-wheeler giant is secretly testing the new motorcycle at its factory in Manesar, Gurgaon. The bike is codenamed KWFA and is expected to sport an ex-showroom price of Rs. 52,000. With a 125cc engine, the bike will produce close to 11 bhp and looks like a ‘baby karizma’. The fuel injected version of the same bike will follow a little later and is codenamed KWFF in the factory. World over the Honda CBF series is known for sporty inclined motorcycle’s with traditional naked styling and includes CBF250, CBF500,CBF600N, CBF600S and CBF1000. Honda’s new baby would compete with impending competition from Bajaj, the XCD Sprint and TVS’s Flame. Yamaha has already fired the first salvo by launching sportier versions of its Gladiator motorcycle the SS and the RS.

The reasons for this hectic activity suddenly in the 125cc market stems from the fact that the bread and butter 100cc segment is stagnant now and in some cases the sales have even suffered a dip. Bajaj Auto has been the worst hit with sales falling by almost 20% in the 100cc catagory with MD Rajiv Bajaj contemplating more launches in the 125cc segment in the coming months. The bikes will be based on the XCD platform which although doing really well has fell short of the target set by Bajaj. At the same time figures released by SIAM  shows that 125cc+  sales have grown by almost 15% year on year, while the 100cc segment has shown a negetive growth of 21% almost forcing the companies to venture into the higher segment where all the growth is going to come from. The XCD Sprint from Bajaj will also be launched sometime around August this year.

Will the XCD Sprint and leave Honda in Flames remains to be seen.