Hero MotoCorp iON
The Indian company's technological ties with Honda are over – the residual of a previous partnership -- and it's now trying to position itself for the futureWe’ve already touched on Hero MotoCorp’s utility RNT scooter prototype that the No. 1 Indian motorcycle firm unveiled at Delhi auto expo a few weeks ago, but that wasn’t the sole show-stopper.
The iON was another on display, pushing the prototype boundaries way more than the nearly production ready RNT. The iON has hubless wheels, two-wheel steering, vehicle situation awareness (check out another machine which is currently spruiking a similar level of attentiveness), and a lightweight lithium-air battery that insiders say is nowhere near ready for an engineering application. But it’s the experimental thought process that counts, and on that score the ION makes a definitive statement.
At the expo, Hero MotoCorp also unveiled a bike it calls the Hastur, a name which as mythological origins. It’s powered by a liquid-cooled, 620cc, 80hp, reverse-rotating parallel twin engine, which is a stressed member of the trellis frame. The Hastur, according to MotoCorp, “responds “to the athletic rider’s every desire”. The muffler is hidden under a black fairing positioned below the engine.
Clearly, another bike looking into Hero’s future, which will surely be one where its bread-and-butter scooters and low-capacity motorcycles share the limelight with more edgy and contemporary architecture housing more high-performance engines.
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