New Karizma Coming at the Auto Expo; New 150ccs Also Expected [Speculation]

After some truckloads of scooters, 100 -125 cc motorcycles and then some more of them, Hero is finally expected to move higher up the ladder to focus on bigger bikes. Apart from their entry level motorcycles/scooters, there is nothing which the company can boast of. Their 150 ccs are often the lowest sellers in their respective segments and the Karizma duo was recently discontinued due to dismal sales.

The desi bred manufacturer from Gurgaon is reportedly planning to launch not one but three new motorcycles and these may be all-new products on grounds-up platforms (rather than Honda shared ones).

As per a report on Gaadiwaadi.com, these bikes will be codenamed as ‘AABA‘, ‘AANF‘ and ‘AAZA‘ and are already under-development at the company’s new R&D facility near Jaipur. Deciphering anything from these internal codenames is not possible but Gaadiwaadi adds that one of the trio is expected to be a replacement of the Karizma (and/or ZMR), the other two (or one) may be version(s) of 150-160 cc motorcycles or something else.

It is already known, to shed its dependence on Honda, Hero is developing its indigenous engines of varying capacities, the first of which went into the 110cc Maestro Edge and Duet scoots.

New-2014-Karizma-ZMR-Red

Helping Hero in this task is Engine Engineers from Italy. Hero had chalked down a deal with the Bologna based firm back in September 2012 to help in developing new products. Apart from this the brand also has a collaboration with AVL from Austria. Hero had also managed to rope in Mr Markus Braunsperger as their new Chief technology Officer. Before his stint with Hero, Markus was the chief Engineer at BMW Motorrad.

Back at the Auto Expo in 2014, Hero had surprised everyone with a muscular 620 cc concept called the Hastur which has since then gone back to hiding. They also have the super-interesting HX250R quarter liter which is delayed due to EBR-bankruptcy. Hopefully we will have more answers next month when the stage for the Auto Expo 2016 is lit.