Hero BS4 discounts for scooters happen alongside the brand’s major sales decline in February 2020
Hero MotoCorp announced a 19 per cent decline in sales in the past month. The automaker sold 4,98,242 units in February 2020 as against 6,17,215 units in the same month of the previous year. Motorcycle sales dipped 14.23 per cent to 4,79,310 units last month as against 5,58,884 units in February 2019 while scooter sales declined by 67.54 per cent to 18,932 units compared to 58,331 units previously.
Though the company has introduced its BS6 lineup, dealerships are still holding some 2018 BS4 stocks and are hence offering special discounts up to Rs 5,000. The 2019 models, which are also BS4 compliant, are being sold at a discount of Rs 3,000. There are no discounts on the BS4 compliant motorcycle lineup as most of these have already been sold.
In the past month, the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak resulted in a disruption in supplies from China. This impacted production at the company’s manufacturing facilities in the country. Since then, the company made progress in developing alternative sources for procurement of components even as the Chinese suppliers eventually resumed production.
Hero MotoCorp was in the lead to produce only BS6 vehicles while production of BS4 models stopped in February 2020 itself. The Glamour, Super Splendor, Splendor, HF Deluxe, Passion Pro and Splendor iSmart now follow BS6 emission standards while the Xpulse twins and Xtreme variants are yet to receive the updates. Considering their popularity (especially for the Xpulse), the updates will be introduced at the earliest.
Hero MotoCorp plans a new product lineup which will include the Xtreme 160R. The sports commuter (which will launch later this month) will attract a younger segment of buyers in the country with its fresh design approach. The new 160R is a successor to the Xtreme 150 which exited from the company lineup last year.
The Hero Xtreme 160R gets three colour options: White + Grey, Blue + Grey and Sports Red + Grey. It is powered by a 160cc air-cooled FI BS6 engine that offers 15bhp at 8,500 rpm and 14Nm at 6,500rpm while mated to a 5-speed gearbox. The motorcycle is capable of accelerating from 0 to 60km/h in 4.7 seconds. The Xtreme 160R gets two variants: Single Disc and Double Disc. Both variants feature a single-channel ABS. Once launched, the Xtreme 160R will compete with the TVS Apache RTR 160 and Bajaj Pulsar 160NS. Hero MotoCorp is yet to announce the pricing of the new Xtreme 160R but estimates put it around the Rs 90,000 ex-showroom.
