If an EV, this upcoming scooter will rival TVS iQube and Ather Rizta and if ICE, it will take on Honda Activa 125, TVS Jupiter 125 and Suzuki Access 125
Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer in terms of volume, currently dominates motorcycle sales but lags behind its immediate rivals in the scooter segment. To tackle this, Hero is taking a comprehensive approach by developing a range of new scooters. One of these upcoming scooters has already been patented. Let’s take a closer look.
Hero Patented New Scooter With Affordable Components
We can see a large and practical scooter in the leaked patent images. The design is new-age and is much better than Hero’s current large scooter, Maestro. That said, there are a few resemblances with Hero’s Vida scooters as well. Regardless of ICE or EV, it has a few premium elements seen in the recently patented design.
The scooter’s apron has a well-designed LED headlight system, while the front and rear have stylish turn indicators also LED. The split-type seat looks large and comfortable, and the overall design is minimal and clean, with few body creases. In terms of practicality, the scooter has a flat floorboard, and one of its key strengths is the seat.
Additionally, there is a large and practical grabrail. Since the patented design is a 3D model of the vehicle in greyscale, we can’t pinpoint whether it packs an IC engine (probably 125cc) or an electric powertrain. In either case, we can expect a swingarm-mounted drive unit.
It is not all sunshine for Hero’s new scooter, though. The leaked patent design doesn’t incorporate disc brakes at either end. The front suspension setup is a big turn-off too, as it is not a telescopic unit. Both of Hero’s current large scooters Maestro and Vida V1 get telescopic forks. Smaller and more affordable Pleasure+ still gets front shock absorbers, though.
What to expect?
Considering Hero is currently not popular with large family scooter buyers, there is a big probability of this being an ICE scooter, similar to Maestro’s size. Rivals in this genre include Activa 125, TVS Jupiter 125, Suzuki Access 125 and others. Also, company’s official website doesn’t list Maestro under their products section in Scooter category.
This raises speculation about whether Maestro is discontinued considering its slow sales in contrast to its immediate rivals. If so, this new scooter patented by Hero could fill Maestro’s shoes with the same 125cc engine making 9 bhp, 10.36 Nm and cost around Rs. 85,000 (ex-sh).
If it is an EV, it would rival family electric scooters like TVS iQube and Ather’s upcoming Rizta. Around 3 kWh swappable battery and 100 km of real range is likely. Features may include a fully digital instrument cluster with Bluetooth and navigation, LED lighting, connected vehicle experience, large under-seat storage, USB charging sockets, apron storage for convenience and an external fuel filler cap (if ICE).
