Hero Xtreme 200R does undercut its established rivals in the segment by a big margin – a trait that paid dividends among commuter competition over the years
Hero MotoCorp always have the knack of doing best at what they are good at. At the heart of major segment share, the largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the country dominate the entry-level commuter space with a range of motorcycles popularized by the cheap price tags and reliable servicing consistency with highlighting mileage consciousness.
The New Delhi-headquartered firm had significant presence in the base premium motorcycle segment a decade ago, before being plagued with lack of updates. With customers’ focus towards the entry-level sporty motorcycles evolving, Hero had to respond despite floundering to transform the promising concepts into production models over the years.
In comes the Xtreme 200R, the brand’s first premium naked bike at the base end of the spectrum in a long time. After debuting at the 2016 Auto Expo, Hero made us wait two more years before unveiling the production version while the suspense on the pricing front remained throughout this year. With Hero revealing the price on its official website yesterday, it was not a surprise package in all honesty.
The Hero Xtreme 200R does undercut its established rivals in the segment by a big margin – a trait that paid dividends among commuter competition over the years. Currently, eight northeast states have received the pricing details with more provinces to be added in the coming days. At a bang-on-head price of Rs. 88,000 (ex-showroom), the Xtreme 200R makes for an attractive option.
How competitive is the pricing, you wonder? The Xtreme 200R costs around Rs. 16,000 cheaper than the Bajaj Pulsar NS 200 and base TVS Apache RTR 200. However, about Rs. 30,000 lesser than the top-spec RTR 200 that obviously comes with more features on offer like Pirelli tyres and Brembo brakes. Hero’s pricing strategy fits the bill perfectly as it can threaten RTR 160 and NS 160 as well.
The Xtreme 200R is not a hardcore handling obsession like its 200 cc counterparts and is low on performance outputs as well but its pricing meant, buyers now have an option to choose an affordable 200 cc motorcycle instead of pursuing a 160 cc model.
The Xtreme 200R derives power from a single-cylinder air-cooled engine which is good enough to produce a maximum power output of 18.1 bhp and 17.1 Nm of peak torque. In comparison, the NS 200 makes 23.2 bhp and 18.3 Nm while RTR 200 4V generates 20.7 bhp and 18.1 Nm.
Going by how the Xtreme 200 is priced, we can expect the bold strategy to be implemented on the XPulse 200 dual-purpose adventure motorcycle, at less than Rs. 1 lakh (ex-showroom), as well as other models reported to come out of the 200 cc platform in the near future.
Hero Xtreme 200R Images
