with Suzuki of Japan,

Flame is priced at Rs. 45,000 ex-showroom Chennai and comes with disc brakes as an option.

Addressing a press conference , Venu Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director, TVS Motor, said, "This is the highest technology product in the country. A three-valve bike has been rolled out earlier, but this is the first time that a mass market roll-out is happening." According to the Indian Driving Cycle (IDC), the bike could deliver a mileage of 82 km a litre. "No vehicle (in this segment) anywhere nears this on mileage," Mr. Srinivasan said.



TVS Motor, he said, had set a sales target of 20,000 Flame vehicles a month once the bike was launched across the country by January. Flame, along with a new Star Sport (an entry-level mass market bike), expected to hit the roads in January, would stem the sagging sales of the company, he said. Once these two bikes were launched across the nation, TVS Motor would be hoping to hawk 75,000 bikes a month.

Mr. Srinivasan refused to comment on the company's ongoing tussle with Bajaj Auto. Mr. Srinivasan said that "Flame is based on a technology patented by AVL in Austria and the rest of the world." Bajaj Auto, it may be recalled, had alleged that TVS Motor had used its technology for Flame. To a question, Mr. Srinivasan said it was only a commercial dispute between TVS Motor and Bajaj. "I will not allow this to come into the personal relationship with Rahul Bajaj."

Mr. Srinivasan said TVS Motor had forecast monthly sales of 1.30 lakh two wheelers (75,000 of which will be motorcycles) in the last quarter of this fiscal. Three-wheeler sales would commence from January. This, he said, would add 40,000 units a year from 2008-09.

On the Indonesian venture, he said mass marketing of the vehicles would begin from January. "Indonesia is an unforgiving market," he said. The dealer network in Indonesia, he said, would be beefed up by June next. The Indonesian venture would also export its vehicles to the ASEAN markets, he added.