Arguably one of the year’s more surprising arrivals, Honda’s decision to dust off the CB350 nameplate and attach it to a retro-inspired 350 targeted at volume Asian market has been a roaring success so far.
First launched in India, where it is being marketed most heavily, the CB350 (or H’ness as it is known there) essentially spoiled the party of the Royal Enfield 350 by getting the jump and hitting the headlines before its much delayed main rival could be rolled out properly for the first time.
The impact can be clearly seen, with more than 1000 orders being taken in just 20 days, while global reaction to the simple, classic styling and good value approach has been ‘when can we get it over here…?’
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Honda has sounded optimistic at the prospect of giving the CB350) a European debut and our confidence is growing with this rendering of a funky Scrambler variant from Japanese publication Young Machine, an authority that has been almost spot on when it comes to predicting new models from the ‘big four’.
Indeed, with Honda having promised some ‘surprises’ as they grow the CB350 line, Young Machine has produced a convincing looking render with the knobbly tyres and high-set exhaust traits very much intact. It reports the model will be coming some time in the summer.
A move into the Scrambler arena for the Honda CB350 H’ness inevitably has us pondering whether it will end there, with a cafe racer version surely the most logical derivative to follow on from the standard model’s neo-retro appearance.
Will the Honda CB350 be sold in the UK?
As for whether we will ever see the CB350 cross to this side of the world, Honda will certainly have been watching the market carefully. Indeed, while the big manufacturers have tended to separated their Asia-European line-ups due to differing local regulations, with India’s new BS-IV emission stipulations largely mirroring the incoming Euro5 regulations, the scope for crossover is stronger than before.
Plus, with Royal Enfield’s sales rising globally and Triumph announcing its forthcoming Bajaj co-developed India-targeted small displacement models will be sold around the world, Honda may want to get a jump on the competition with the 350. Again.
