Hero MotoCorp on Thursday said it will review all the products with its US-based partner Erik Buell Racing (EBR), which has gone bankrupt.
Hero and EBR were in the process of developing a 250cc bike and a scooter, which now will be under review. “All the products are under review,” Pawan Munjal, CMD and CEO, Hero MotoCorp, told reporters here on the sidelines of a new motorcycle launch. When asked about the use of its erstwhile partner’s Honda technology in some of its products, Munjal said four models — motorcycles Impulse, Passion Xpro and Ignitor, and scooter Maestro — have a licence till 2017, after which Hero will use its own technology.
The company is focussing on in-house product development, he said, adding it will come out with its own designed and developed models across all segments including those with BS-IV compliant engines.
Hero will be ready with BS-IV compliant engines across all its products well before it becomes mandatory, from April 2017, he added.
Munjal also said that due to a slowdown in the global markets, sales have not been as per expectations and the company will reassess its targets where it has expanded.
The company today launched the new Splendor iSmart 110, the first motorcycle to be developed completely in-house, with the company's own technology, priced at ₹53,300 (ex-showroom, Delhi).
The new motorcycle is BS-IV compliant, with a 110cc torque-on-demand engine. The air -cooled single cylinder, four-stroke engine produces a maximum power output of 9.4PS @7500 rpm and maximum torque of 9Nm @5500 rpm, the company said.
The Splendor iSmart 110 also features Hero’s intuitive i3S (Idle-stop-start system). The i3S system, apart from increasing fuel efficiency, is an important convenience feature in the urban stop-go traffic.