Will further cut ties with Honda Motorcycles.
As Hero Motorcorp is looking to end royalty payments to Honda Motorcycles, Autocar Professional reports that the Hero Maestro could be discontinued as it is one of the few products still powered by Honda's technology.
This is not a surprising development given that the new Hero Maestro Edge was well received in the market; selling over 100,000 units within six months of its launch. The Maestro Edge was fully designed and developed by Hero in-house and phasing out the Maestro will allow Hero to reduce its financial liability to Honda. With the capital saved, Hero can the invest more on its R&D and new projects for the future.
The report claims that Hero MotoCorp paid INR 50.02 crore in FY2012-13, INR 116.67 crore in FY2013-14, INR 121.41 crore in FY2014-15 and INR 78.89 crore in FY2015-16 as variable royalty to Honda of Japan.
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The Hero Maestro is powered by the Honda Activa's 109 cc air-cooled engine that produces 8.2 PS and 9.10 Nm of torque. It is paired with a CVT. The scooter is suspended by telescopic front suspension and a single-sided rear shock absorber.
[Source: Autocar Professional]