Hero may discontinue Maestro scooter: Report

Hero MotoCorp may soon discontinue the Maestro scooter as the company is looking to end the royalty arrangement with Honda. Hero Maestro uses technology sourced from Honda Motor Co.

Hero already has a new Maestro, which goes by the name Maestro Edge on the Indian roads. According to an Autocar Professional report, the new Maestro has clocked over 1 lakh unit of sales within six months of its launch in the country.The popularity of the new Maestro is expected to retain the sales momentum for Hero.

Hero is reportedly looking to bring down the financial liability to Honda. The Maestro Edge is Hero's first completely in-house developed scooter.

The report added that Hero MotoCorp paid Rs. 50.02 crore in FY 2012-13, Rs. 116.67 crore in FY 2013-14, Rs. 121.41 crore in FY2014-15 and Rs. 78.89 crore in FY2015-16 as variable royalty to Honda.

The Maestro packs Honda Activa's 109cc, air-cooled, 4-stroke, single cylinder engine, which can pump in a power of 8bhp at 7500rpm and a peak torque of 9.10Nm at 5500rpm. Seated on a wheelbase of 1240 mm, Hero Maestro measures 1780mm in length, 710mm in width and 1165mm in height. It gets a ground clearance of 155mm.

On the other hand, the new Maestro Edge gets 110.9cc single-cylinder engine, which is tuned to dish out a power of 8bhp at 8000rpm and a peak torque of 8.30Nm at 6500rpm and comes mated to a CVT transmission.