If it indeed is going to production, 300cc Hero XF3R launch may be towards the second half of the next financial year unless Hero has some surprise in store for us…
Along with Xtreme 200S (production version launched as Xtreme 200R), Hero continued its aggressive show at the 2016 Auto Expo with yet another strikingly designed motorcycle – the XF3R. The company said that it was a ‘Design Concept Vehicle‘ which ultimately means it may either not be produced ever, or if it will go to production, it will take eons of years!
Hero did not talk about XF3R much, neither at the unveiling nor in the press release they shared then. All they said was – XF3R is a greater than 300cc concept motorcycle and used adjectives like ‘Born to be wild‘, ‘high performance engine’, ‘fighter motorcycle’, ‘arresting design’ etc etc. Hero then said that the essence of XF3R will be reflected in future Hero products and also hinted at a 300+ cc production motorcycle sometime later.
300cc Hero XF3R Launch
A latest report at NewsX claims that XF3R will be launched ‘soon’! How soon? they have not revealed. Nor have they shared any creditable source of their information. However, we believe XF3R is not coming anytime ‘soon’ because Hero doesn’t seem to be very eager and confident about their higher capacity motorcycles at the moment.
When other Indian manufacturers have moved to much higher capacities, Hero, very reluctantly, introduced their first indigenous 200cc Xtreme 200R and it has become the first commuter motorcycle in this supposedly sports segment (in the Indian context). Moreover, they have already announced the launch of Xpulse twins in the early part of 2019.
A recent report we carried few months back (here), suggested that Hero may be able to come up with a bigger capacity motorcycle by March 2019. Which means that XF3R, if it is going to production, will not be coming ‘very soon’!
XF3R Design Features
The most noticeable features of XF3R are…
- single-side swingarm we see on Ducatis
- Weird underseat exhaust which looks totally out of place. Production version will surely see it sorted.
- The pilot lamps over headlamp remind us of Xtreme.
- But the alloy wheels are futuristically good.
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Overall, not something really ground-breaking but it surely is a motorcycle to look out for, if and when we get a production version of it.
