It seems Hero Motocorp has finally got its wheel spinning after it bid adieu to Honda two years ago.
Even though the products are branded Hero, the powertrains still have the Honda lineage. Honda was solely responsible for the technical and product development aspects in the joint venture. The technical support which Honda still continues to offer will be withdrawn in 2014 and in order to keep selling, Hero must have already started working on its own range of powerhouses.
Hero's R&D capabilities was the favorite topic of the skeptics ever since Honda detached itself from what was arguably the most successful partnership in the global two wheeler industry.
Times Of India reports that Hero is working on 100cc, 110cc and 250cc engines on its own. Mr. Pawan Munjal, MD and CEO of Hero Motocorp said -
We have fired three new engines, and we have done this ourselves. Each of these engines perform much better than our existing engines, and they are very fuel-efficient, the efficiency being higher than any bike currently running on Indian roads.
Throwing more light on the upcoming power plants, Mr. Munjal said that the 110cc motor will go on to Hero's current array of commuters while the 100cc vertical (cylinder orientation) engine is being developed specifically for the Nigerian market.
He also added that the company is in the process of setting up a new R&D centre at Kukas, Rajasthan. Hero currently has technical partners like AVL Austria, Engines Engineering (formerly owned by Mahindra) and Eric Buell Racing (49% of which is owned by Hero Motocorp).
The fully faired Hero sportsbike which was spotted testing a couple of weeks ago could use the 250cc mill in question.
The new engines are expected to find their way on board Hero motorcycles once Honda withdraws its technology support in 2014.
[Source: Times Of India]
