India-bound Benelli Tornado 302 showcased in new video

Benelli Tornado 302 shows off its muscle in a new promotional video.

The Benelli Tornado 302 is confirmed to be launching in India by March 2017. Essentially the faired version of the TNT 300, the Benelli Tornado 302 will rival the Yamaha R3 and Kawasaki Ninja 300.

Owned by the Qianjiang group from China, the Sino-Italian motorcycle maker is trying to revive its lost glory in Europe. The Benelli brand name, after all, predates Ducati which post the takeover by the Volkswagen group has made progress.

While it is not a hidden fact that the European market loves bigger engines, small capacity bikes have been very successful too. The best example being the KTM 390s which have got tremendous success to the Austrian brand. Ducati too last year introduced a smaller capacity Scrambler Sixty2.

The Benelli Tornado 302 is powered by an inline twin cylinder, liquid cooled, DOHC mill churning out 35.3 PS of maximum power at 12,000 rpm and 27 Nm of peak torque at 9,000 rpm. The bike is coupled with a 6 speed gearbox and tips the scales at 180 kg. The Benelli Tornado 302 is suspended over 41 mm upside down forks while the rear gets a mono shock.

With 17-inch wheels, the Benelli Tornado 302 gets 100/70 section tyre in the front and 150/60 in the rear, both sourced from Metzeler. The video shows off the bike pulling off both track as well as city riding with ease. The bike aims to make you feel like ‘a savage wind ripping through the concrete jungle’.

All said and done, the prime attraction of the Benelli Tornado 302 is the exhaust note.