India’s ‘complicated’ adventure love affair

 A decade’s success story of Hero Motor Corp.

The BS6 variant of the Hero Xpulse 200 is expected to be launched soon in India as it finally got listed on the company website. The news is a head-turner for all Indian adventure enthusiasts as the bike is expected to bear more torque than its predecessor. The amount of hype this motorcycle has been getting in the past few months is beyond compare. The Xpulse 200 is currently by a large margin, the flagship product of Hero MotoCorp. The success of this particular motorcycle came overnight but was in the making for over a decade. 

Hero MotoCorp was always a visionary when in the Indian motorcycle market. Their partnership with Honda has produced some of the most successful selling motorcycles in the sub-continent. In 1999 Hero alongside partner Honda launched the Hero Honda CBZ. A 156cc 4-stroke engine with a come of age, stylish body was a revolution in the Indian motorcycle market. A decade later, in 2010 Hero and Honda decided to break their partnership and started producing individually designed motorcycles. For Honda, who were already making successful motorcycles alone, this was not a great deal. However, Hero had a market to make and a mountain to scale.

In 2013, the company introduced the first of its kind ‘go anywhere’ adventure motorcycle in the name ‘Impulse’. Hero Impulse was a head-turner as the Indian consumers hadn’t seen anything like it before. With a 149cc engine and a curb weight of 134kg, the Impulse was arguably the best entry-level adventure motorcycle ever sold in India. However, the interest of the people didn’t turn into profit and the sales were constantly on the fall until, in 2017, the company decided to discontinue the motorcycle. 

Now, what went wrong was that the company was looking for a market that didn’t exist. Indians weren’t used to off-roading or adventure riding per se and the everyday commuting commoner, the Impulse remained alien. As time passed, the Indian market gradually changed and young blood started experimenting on different modes of riding. For the average person, the BMW GS1200, Triumph Tiger, or Ducati Scrambler were all far fetched in pricing for a purpose build motorcycle. The novices in adventure sports started buying used Impulses. A market exclusive for the Impulse was being made.

By the year 2019, Impulses became scarce in the market. At this point, Hero MotoCorp announced the Hero Xpulse 200, a more powerful successor of the Impulse. The makers, who were well ahead of the time in 2013 were spot on this time around. The Xpulse became the talk of the town. Consumers who already owned an Impulse saw more power being offered by the Xpulse, and for the rest of the market, the motorcycle became a budget-friendly mountain climber. An article interestingly called it the ‘poor man’s Triumph Tiger’. 

What Hero started with Impulse in now a decent demand market in India with a short but strong list of adventure motorcycles like the Royal Enfield Himalayan and the KTM 390 Adventure. Even though the likes of Benelli TRK 502 and Kawasaki Versys 300 are all strong contenders for the market, the average Indian’s budget friendless remains the biggest positive for the Xpulse 200. At an ex-showroom price of INR 1,15,000, it is without a doubt the most efficient one of the bunch.

Hero MotoCorp recently started retailing the Hero Xpulse rally kit in India through select dealerships. The kit was instantly picked up by moto enthusiasts from across the world when it was first showcased at EICMA 2019 held in Milan. Priced at INR 38,000, the kit is the most affordable and accessible tuning the Xpulse needs to be the perfect budget ‘go-anywhere’ motorcycle.