Triumph screens 007 Scrambler edition

Triumph has announced a new Scrambler 1200 007 Edition to cash in on its star billing in the 25th James Bond film, No Time to Die, to hit the screens in November.

The British company would have a paid a tidy sum for their first 007 film product placement which included the Scrambler 1200 and Tiger 900.

But the limelight has been dimmed a little. They claim they are the only motorcycle in the partnership, but there is also a Ducati Scrambler in the trailer.

And the film was to have been screened in April before this limited edition model was released.

However, the film’s release has been pushed back to November because of the pandemic.

007 edition

The Bond 007 edition Scrambler 1200 is limited to 200 units and costs a whopping $A27,100.

That compares with the road-based XC at $20,300 (plus on-road costs) and the off-road-oriented XE at $21,700.

Each Bond Edition motorcycle has a unique billet riser clamp with laser-etched individual edition numbering and comes with a special Bond Handover Pack that includes a numbered certificate of authenticity hand-signed by Triumph’s CEO Nick Bloor.

Of course, there is 007 branding, a special 007 “shutter” startup screen message, black anodized mudguards, grab rail, sump guard, and infills, black powder-coated swingarm and sprocket cover, an Arrow muffler with carbon fiber tips, a stainless steel headlight grilled, and black rear wheel adjusters.   

There are no performance updates, except the muffler.

The engine is the same 1200cc parallel-twin with 66.2kW of power and 110Nm of torque.

Product placement

The price for product placement in a movie can be up to about $A500,000, but for a Bond film it can be a whole lot more.

In fact, Heineken is believed to have paid $A65 Million to get Bond character Daniel Craig to sip their beer instead of a martini in the 2015 film, Spectre.

So we have no idea how much Triumph has paid to have the modified Scrambler 1200 and Tiger 900 included.

So why is a baddy riding an 803cc Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled in the main chase scene?

Bond film espionage?

Has Ducati snuck in some free screen time in an apt case of Bond film espionage or did they pay, too?

Or is this a deliberate effort by Triumph to make their scrambler competitor look bad by being associated with buddies while their Scrambler is associated with the hero?

Bond movies are usually associated with exotic cars, but motorcycles have also featured over the years.

Most have been BMW vehicles, although there was a run of Ford-owned cars for a while, including Aston Martin.

Bond rode a three-wheeled Honda US90 in 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever, a Cagiva W16 in 1995’s Goldeneye and a BMW R 1200 C cruiser in the Vietnam chase scene in the ’97 Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies.

There was also a Honda Montesa Cota 4RT in the 2008 Quantum of Solace and Aussie stunt rider Robbie Maddison road a Honda CRF2050R across Istanbul rooftops in 2012’s Skyfall.

Meanwhile, BMW has dominated the Mission Impossible and Jason Bourne movie franchises and Ducati has not been shy about product placement with the Venom and CHiPs movies.

Of course, Triumph has probably the most memorable motorcycle scene from any movie.

Their TR6 was used as a Nazi BMW in the chase scene in 1963 film, The Great Escape.

Former TT racer and larrikin daredevil Guy Mart in plans to replicate that jump on a Triumph Scrambler 1200 this Sunday (8 December 2019).