A Bothan spy just dropped off a note in the A&R inbox saying that the soon-to-be-released and recently-spotted Brammo Empulse R is to come with quite the price tag. Said to be priced just shy of $20,000, the R-spec Empulse would be commanding a $6,000 premium over the $14,000 MSRP that was quoted when the Brammo Empulse first hit the newswires 22 months ago. Considering the $13,995 price tag offered by the Zero S ZF9, the $20,000 figure being bantered about sounds very high to our ears, at least initially.
However, with roughly 10 kWh of battery pack on-board, along with some nice parts like Marchesini wheels, Brembo brakes, Marzocchi forks, a sachs rear shock, and of course the IET six-speed gearbox, the $20,000 price begins to sound a bit more reasonable (note: not actually reasonable), at least when one is comparison shopping between the two brands. With Brammo having to-date the better build quality out of the two electric motorcycle manufacturers, one can imagine the brand commanding a higher price, especially with some more premium components on its bike.
Another factor at play could be the general need of the company to start hitting financial profitability. Rumored to have been selling bikes at a loss in order to gain market share, the folks up at Ashland may be reassessing the shape of the demand curve for electric motorcycles, having only sold several hundred units in the past 3+ years. Whether or not that rumor has anything to do with the $28 million investment round that was lead by Polaris Industries we will leave up for you to ascertain.
Stay tuned for Tuesday, when official pricing and photos of the Brammo Empulse and Brammo Empulse R will be unveiled.
Source: Bothan Spies
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