After severing its long standing partnership with the Japanese 2 wheeler maker, Honda Motorcycles Hero MotoCorp is set to go all aggressive with its product portfolio. Already the company has teamed up with an American company Eric Buell Racing (EBR) for joint development and sharing of technical expertise among both the manufacturers. One of the first models to roll out from this partnership will be a 250cc motorcycle, this has been revealed by 2 persons who are very close to the project and preferred to be unnamed.
According to one of them, Hero is determined to showcase to the world its capability and competence in bringing world-class products with superior technology on its own in quick time. It is currently working on several models ranging from low-engine displacement to higher-powered motorcycles and scooters. However, the first bike on a new platform to hit the market will be a 250cc motorcycle. To carry out the development, a group of engineers have been sent from Hero MotoCorp’s R&D centre in Gurgaon and Daruhera to the EBR Headquarters at East Troy in Wisconsin. The bike is supposed to have next generation styling, cutting edge technology and a killer price.
Manufacturing of the motorcycle will take place at Hero’s production plants in India. It is expected to be showcased at the upcoming Delhi AutoExpo in 2014 with the official launch to follow very soon later. Hero MotoCorp also has plans to launch the bike in the global market and might be exporting it to different countries from its plants in India. The sources also added that Hero MD & CEO Pawan Munjal is personally monitoring the progress of the project. The 250cc segment is already a highly heated up segment in the Indian motorcycling industry and this project will be taking on the Honda CBR250R, the Kawasaki Ninja 300R and the Hyosung GT250R.
