Husqvarna Svartpilen 401 & Vitpilen 401 launch delayed to early 2020 - Report

The launch of the Husqvarna Svartpilen 401 and the Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 has been delayed in India, according to a report from Zigwheels. The 401 twins' launch in the country will now take place by the end of next fiscal year (March 2020).

According to the source report, the delay in launch is attributed to the process of setting up the assembly line of the Husky 401s and the selection of vendors, which is taking longer time than expected. Bajaj-KTM is scheduled to launch the Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 and the Svartpilen 401 at the same time. KTM is expected to announce its future product launch plans by March 2019.

The company is currently gearing up to launch the KTM 790 Duke in India by early 2019, while the 390 ADV is likely to be introduced by late 2019. Earlier this week, the KTM 390 Adventure was spied testing for the first time in the country. The company could be considering two variants (tourer & ADV) of the 390 Adventure for India as the test mule had alloy wheels.

Coming back to the Huskies, the Vitpilen 401 and the Svartpilen 401 were first spied testing in February 2018. The Husqvarna 401 twins are based on the KTM 390 Duke platform but are sophisticated and premium offerings as compared to the KTMs. The source report claims that parts like body panels, LED headlight, tail section and other fitments are exquisitely designed and require high precision manufacturing. Bajaj-KTM is still in the process of finalising the vendors and dealerships who are able to meet these high standards.

The Husqvarna Svartpilen 401 and the Vitpilen 401 use common mechanical parts like the trellis frame, suspension setup, and disc brakes from the KTM 390 Duke's parts bin. The 373.2cc liquid-cooled engine is the same as well. It produces 43.5 bhp of power and 37 Nm of peak torque, and it is mated to a six-speed transmission. Features like a slipper clutch, ride by wire throttle, dual-channel ABS and a fully-digital instrument cluster are standard fitments.

Also Read: 5 things to know about the upcoming Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 & Svartpilen 401

The Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 is a neo-retro café racer, while the Svartpilen 401 the company's take on a modern scrambler. Being premium offerings in comparison to the KTM 390 Duke, we expect the Huskies to cost higher, around INR 2.60 lakh (ex-showroom). For reference, the 390 Duke retails at INR 2.44 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).