Yamaha to launch the YZF-R3 in August

Since Yamaha first unveiled the YZF-R25 in Indonesia more than a year ago, enthusiasts in India have been waiting for the quarter-litre bike to hit the Indian shores. Now though, it seems that the wait is finally coming to an end, as Yamaha dealers have revealed that the Japanese manufacturer is planning to launch the bigger YZF-R3 in India by next month. 

A step up from the Yamaha YZF-R25, the YZF-R3 borrows styling cues from its younger sibling, but gets a bigger powerplant to make it worthy of rivalling the Kawasaki Ninja 300 and the KTM RC390. The sporty twin-headlamps, the air duct in the middle and LED tail lamps make the R3 stand apart from the rest of the Yamaha YZF range and other quarter-litre bikes. 

Pitted as a sportsbike you can ride every day, the R3 is powered by an eight-valve 321cc four-stroke parallel-twin engine. The liquid-cooled DOHC engine produces 40.5bhp of power and 29.6Nm of torque, making the YZF-R3 one of the most powerful motorcycles in the segment, second only to the wacky RC390. Power is delivered to the rear wheel through a six-speed manual transmission. 

Though Yamaha hasn’t confirmed this, reports suggest that the company is also planning to launch the naked version of the R3, expected to be christened MT-03, in India by early 2016. Like the Ninja 300, the R3 will be locally assembled in India, and we can expect it to be priced around the Rs 3 lakh mark.