IN
THE
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DUCATI, HERO MOTOCORP TO TEAM UP?
D
ucati is one of the very few
leading motorcycle manufac-
turers that doesn't have a small
displacement platform for which
to attract new riders, but this
might be about to change.
Word out of India via respected
British website BikeSocial is
Ducati could be about to team up
with Hero MotoCorp to produce
a single-cylinder, entry-level ma-
chine for new riders to jump on
the Ducati bandwagon.
India's Hero MotoCorp is one
of the largest motorcycle manu-
facturers in the world, producing
small capacity machines for the
local Asian markets. It was origi-
nally bought to life with a partner-
ship with Honda, however, the
Japanese giant dissolved the
partnership in 2010 and Hero
was left to go it alone—which they
have done extremely well, we
might add.
Hero teamed up with EBR
in 2013 (remember when Larry
Pegram and Aaron Yates rode a
Hero EBR in WorldSBK?), but
has long been after a western
partner to break into the global
market by utilizing its manufactur-
ing strength.
On the Ducati side, they al-
ready have the 400cc Scrambler
Sixty2, but this is hardly a small
motorcycle in terms of dimen-
sions and weight. Ducati is thus
losing out on a substantial source
of revenue by not having a true
entry-level, small-capacity ma-
chine in their lineup, one which
the Hero MotoCorp partnership
could help supplement.
According the BikeSocial, the
motorcycle in development would
be around 300cc, fuel-injected,
single-cylinder, four-stroke,
which could be used in a sport-
touring chassis and sport bike,
similar to the BMW G 310 GS/G
310 R format in their partnership
with TVS motors. The design and
development of the motorcycles
would be from Ducati in Italy, with
the manufacturing and construc-
tion coming from Hero. CN
Are Ducati and Hero
MotoCorp about to
team up? If so, Ducati
would finally be able
to fill a huge hole in
its line up.
