For February 2019, Hero Motocorp reported sales at 617,215 units at a sales decline of 1.96 percent. At the time the company also stated it would launch new scooters and bikes in the months to come to provide an impetus to the market as demand is lower than expected.
The first of its impending launches is most likely to be the new Hero Pleasure, which was recently spotted at a TVC shoot in Mumbai by Sachin Haralkar from Mumbai Mirror. The lone photo from the TVC shoot, shows Hero Pleasure’s brand ambassador Alia Bhatt astride the scooter, which is now seen in a new sky blue colour option. This colour option is not on offer on the current Pleasure range.
In its new avatar, Hero Pleasure facelift wears a new-ish front with the handlebar design still replete with design lines and adequate changes to fit in the newly designed headlight. The sharper headlight design and redesigned smaller position lamps upfront have helped bring in a cleaner look. Both light units are accented with silver bits. The light units could get a LED component.
The scooter spotted on shoot is free of body graphics. And while the side panels are smaller, the front panel that extends onto the footboard maintains body colour instead of being in black or grey, which is how it is in the current model. Whether or not Hero Pleasure facelift will be introduced with an engine update is not known at present. The current model features drum brakes with Integrated Braking System (IBS). Pleasure sales for February 2019 are reported at 15,264 units, down 10 percent from 16,893 units sold in Feb ’18.
The current Pleasure gets power from a 102cc single-cylinder 4-stroke air-cooled OHC engine mated to a CVT unit. Max power is pegged at 5.15 kW (6.9 BHP) @ 7000 rpm and max torque at 8.1 Nm @ 5000 rpm, and max speed at 77 kmph. Hero Pleasure sits below the newly launched Destini 125 in the company line-up.
While two wheeler sales too have been impacted in the current industry slowdown, the time is just right for manufacturers to introduce mandated changes by the end of month deadline for CBS or ABS as a standard feature, and not an option. When launched, Hero Pleasure goes up against Suzuki Let’s, TVS Scooty Pep+, and Honda Activa in its segment.
