Honda CBR 300R revealed in China

At the 2013 the China International Motorcycle Trade Exhibition in Chongqing, Honda unveiled the 2014 CBR 300R, which it labels as its latest world model. Well one might think what relevance it would have in the Indian context but what we see here is the successor to the CBR 250R in the international market and there are highpossibilities of it coming to India. Visually the new offering looks much more appealing than its 250cc sibling, which looked like a scaled down version of Honda’s sports tourer, the VFR 1200F. Design influence from the CBR 500R and the CBR 1000RR Fireblade is clearly visible and works in the bikes favour. The overall design of the CBR 300R is much sportier and along with the compact dimensions it enunciates a performance oriented feel. 

Powering it is a 286cc mill producing 30.8PS @ 8,500rpm and a torque rating of 27Nm @ 7,250rpm. The powerplant is a bored out version of the 249cc engine as found on the 250R with the same basic engine construction and PGM-FI takes care of fuelling the bike.  Power is less compared to Ninja 300, which pumps out 39.5PS from its twin-cylinder but torque figures are almost identical. No changes have been done to the bikes underpinnings as the chassis and suspension of the CBR 300R appear akin to its smaller sibling and like the 250R, ABS doesn’t seem to be a standard fitment and would be an option. Another major visual change on the new bike is the revised styling of the exhaust pipe which is narrower and gels well with the compact silhouette of the CBR 300R.

Honda announced that the new bike would be manufactured at its Thailand facility and later would be built at other markets across Asia and we feel it might come down to our shores by the first half of 2014. Also it would be interesting to see whether Honda would replace the CBR 250R with the new bike like Kawasaki did with the Ninja 300R but we feel this would be an addition to its Indian portfolio rather than a replacement. The CBR 300R would be pitched against the Ninja 300R and the KTM 390 Duke in the Indian market and would fit in between both the bikes in terms of pricing.