Hero Motors has posted teaser pictures of the Passion XPro on its Facebook page; an indication that it will soon launch the new version – possibly around Diwali. This is the third bike for this year from Gurgaon based manufacturer after the Ignitor and the Maestro.
The Passion XPro was unveiled at the 2012 Indian Auto Expo. Power to new bike comes in form of a 110cc vertically inclined four-stroke engine producing 9bhp and 9Nm of torque. Hero has borrowed this mill from its former partner Honda as it the same engine that powers the CB Twister and the Dream Yuga. This is also the first time Hero is using a vertically inclined engine as every model, in this class, that it has produced since the CD 100 in 1986 has always used a horizontally mounted engine.
Coming to the most important part, due to Hero’s long standing reputation in designing its bikes to provide high levels of efficiency, we can expect the 110cc engine to return around 60-65 kilometers to the litre in city riding conditions.
The Passion XPro has features like digital-analogue combo gauge, electric start, alloy wheels and front disc brake and a re-styled fuel tank as part of standard accessories. The current top-end Passion Pro (disc brake and electric start) retails for Rs 54,583 (ex-showroom Mumbai); so we expect that Hero will launch the new bike for the same cost but for an introductory period to boost volumes.
