EBR - in which Hero purchased a
49.2 percent stake in July of last
year for a reported $25 million.
And now it's hard to think of
any manufacturer simultaneously
presenting such a diverse ar-
ray of new products employing
avant-garde yet perfectly feasible
technology as Hero's Expo 2014
lineup, which overnight has cata-
pulted the Indian manufacturer
from the ranks of a purveyor of
worthy but dull practical two-
wheelers, to a company which
stands at the leading edge of 21st
century motorcycling design.
Alongside a big lineup of en-
tirely self-generated new scooter
and workaday models running
from 97cc to 250cc in capac-
ity that completely dispense with
hangover Honda technology,
Hero's most notable new offer-
ings are headed by the HX250R
- an all-new 250cc fuel-injected
sportbike that is known to have
emanated from EBR's Wisconsin
base. It even has a strong visual
resemblance to the company's
Hero-sponsored 1190RS Su-
perbike, which makes its World
Superbike debut in Australia on
February 20.
Like its rival KTM 200/390
Duke models built by the Aus-
trian firm's Indian partner Bajaj
Auto, this will be built in India but
sold globally as a direct com-
petitor to the Thai-made Honda
CBR250R, as well as the Kawa-
saki Ninja 300 and forthcoming
Triumph 250 single to be made
in Triumph's new factory that's
currently under construction
VOL. 51 ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 19, 2014 P81
WITH THE HELP OF EBR, HERO PROVES THEY ARE FOR REAL
BY ALAN CATHCART
PHOTOGRAPHY BY HERO MOTOCORP
A
major new global motor-
cycle brand has hit the
world stage at India's pre-
mier automotive show, the 2014
Delhi Auto Expo which opened
on February 7 in the capital city
of the world's second largest
market for powered two-wheel-
ers, where over 10 million PTWs
were sold in 2013 – India's Hero
MotoCorp, a company managing
director/CEO Pawan Munjal has
said will be selling in more than
50 countries worldwide by 2020.
That's with a production capacity
reaching 12 million units a year,
manufactured in over 20 facto-
ries of which more than half will
be outside India.
But Hero's lack of in-house
engineering capability in the
wake of its divorce from Honda
was thought to pose a significant
problem to making this expan-
sion happen – until now.
At the Delhi Auto Expo, Hero
presented an array of 18 all-
new models developed either
in house, or else in conjunction
with its three established over-
seas partners. Alongside AVL in
Austria and Engines Engineering
in Italy, a significant but undis-
closed proportion of the work in
creating these was undertaken in
the U.S. by Erik Buell's company
Hero MotoCorp, company
managing director/CEO Pawan
Munjal stands between the HX250R
(left) and the Dash 110cc scooter
(right) at the Delhi Auto Expo.
HITTING THE WORLD STAGE RUNNING
