Aprilia’s recent handling of its Indian scooter lineup has been marked by a glaring lack of communication and a seemingly stagnant strategy. In a move, Piaggio India has unceremoniously killed off multiple models without having the courtesy to formally announce their discontinuation to the public. Aprilia abruptly pulled the plug on their entire 12-inch wheel maxi-scooter range, completely axing the SXR 125 and SXR 160 while leaving buyers at a dead end with absolutely no direct replacement in sight. The SR 160 suffered a similarly quiet fate, dropped from the lineup in total silence without a formal end-of-run announcement.
Instead, the brand sneakily introduced the SR 175 to replace it. While the SR 175 gets a minor bump to a 174.7cc engine and a TFT dash, it lazily recycles the same tired styling for its headlights and tail-lights, and the company only bothered to formally announce a GP-Replica edition later. Ultimately, the SR portfolio is now reduced to just the 125 and the quietly launched 175, leaving Aprilia with a thoroughly uninspired and dwindling presence in the market.
Aprilia in late 2024 said they will launch more products in the higher space as the market also seems to be going in the same direction as well. However, we didn’t think it would come at the cost of the smaller products. Since Aprilia has little to no reach in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and which has also gone down dramatically, it has made sense for them to cut the production entirely. The “new marketing” approach by the brand aims to allocate its limited resources accordingly, it will be clearly difficult for a brand which once started the performacne scooter segment in India is unable to lead it and now, not being able to maintain its position in the market. Piaggio India has always shuffled variants, engines and launched limited editions which costs as much as a sedan, this move is no surprise either. Let’s see if Aprilia delivers like what it said, two years ago.
