Yamaha Launches the R3 and MT-03 for the Indian Market
Yamaha R3 makes a return on Indian soil after a three-year hiatus.
At the dawn of Bs6 emission norms Yamaha silently discontinued the R3 in the year 2020 – well, it wouldn’t be fair to put all the blame on the emissions laws as Yamaha R3 barely brought enough customers through the dealership doors and keeping it around as a halo product didn’t make much sense either, since that duty was taken care off by a much cheaper and slower Yamaha R15.
Yamaha R3 also got dated in terms of performance and design not to mention the CKD route made the bike carry a premium over its counterparts from Kawasaki and its indirect rivals from KTM that were heavily localized and offered more value for a lot less compared to the R3.
All the above reasons sadly led to Yamaha pulling the R3 off the shelves – fans were hopeful this might mean the new R3 that was available globally would also grace the Indian roads- much to everyone’s dismay R3 wasn’t to return for another three years – that is until Dec 15th, 2023 – after multiple rounds of rumors and on and off statements from Yamaha –Finally Yamaha R3 comes back to India and this time it brought someone else along for company – ‘The Yamaha MT-03’.
2024 Yamaha R3
Yamaha launched the R3 at the price of Rs 4.65 lakhs ex-showroom and the reason for such a high asking price is that Yamaha R3 gets to India via the CBU route from Indonesia – making itself purview to the import duty and considering the road tax, insurance and other knick-knack, Yamaha R3 may well be over Rs 5 lakhs on road – making it dearer than its rivals.
Wait till you think Yamaha played the wrong hand with its pricing – The R3 is heavily outdated – and looks outdated, The R3 has been out for three years now in the overseas market and hasn’t been updated in these years which explains why it doesn’t follow the latest design philosophy of other sports bikes in Yamaha’s lineup like the R1, R7 and even the R15 – and more importantly, it still uses the same old chassis and an engine that produces same old numbers and that’s not a bad thing the 321cc parallel twin produces 42 horsepower and unlike the old bike, it is Bs6 compliant.
Sure, it gets some new goodies such as USD front forks and that’s about it – but you don’t buy a bike like the R3 for its brochure – despite being a three-year-old motorcycle overseas it is a fresh face on the Indian road, and it still looks great – not to mention the performance of that 321cc parallel twin and the reliability that comes with the Yamaha badge.
2024 YAMAHA MT-03
This is where it gets exciting – The Yamaha R3 didn’t come empty-handed it brought along a friend with The Yamaha MT-03, it is the naked version of the R3 – it borrows everything from the R3 from the 321cc liquid-cooled parallel twin cylinder, chassis and right down to the wheelbase and the suspension.
Design
The Yamaha MT-03 is quite similar to other MT models in the Yamaha lineup – albeit every MT model has their different take on the MT’s design philosophy – so, is the case with the MT-03 it looks very similar to the smaller MT-15, sharing the headlight design and some bits here and there but at the same time it boaster its very own unique design – for example its side profile and tank design – resembling other MT models but with its very own take to stand apart from its siblings at the same time.
Performance
As mentioned before MT-03 uses the same engine as the Yamaha R3 and is even in the same state of tune as the one doing the job in the R3 – the 321cc liquid-cooled parallel twin produces 42 hp at 12,000 rpm and 29 Nm of torque at 9,000 rpm.
Yamaha MT-03 does 0- 100 in around 5.0 sec and the top speed is 167 kph – these very figures are the same for the Yamaha R3 with a slightly higher top speed at 179 kph – it’s not just the top speed where MT-03 comes slightly short the price of the MT-03 is cheaper by Rs 5,000 compared to R3 which is at Rs 4.59 Lakhs.
Yamaha Launched the 300cc twins the MT-03 and the R3 on 15th December and anyone with the means to own one can go on the Yamaha’s website and book either of the two recently launched Yamahas.
Color Options available
Yamaha R3 comes in two different colors Icon Blue and Yamaha Black and the MT-03 also comes in two different colors for the buyers to choose from, Midnight Cyan & Midnight Black.
Recommend0 recommendationsPublished in News
