Will Hero Maestro BEAT Honda Activa?

According to trade experts Hero MotoCorp's Maestro is going to give a tough competition to Honda Activa.

Hero Honda's split into Hero Moto Corp and Honda Motors has helped Indian customers have more options to choose from.

If market reports are to be believed both these groups are busy in bringing out vehicles that can cater to their customers' demands. We compare two vehicles from these two groups that will soon be fighting out for supremacy on the roads.

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Let's start with the Hero MotoCorp Maestro. It seems like this vehicle has been strategically designed as an attractive unisex scooter. Experts feel that there can be no better way than this to take on the competitor Honda (Activa).

The stand-out features of this unisex scooter are better storage space as compared to Activa along with the instrumentation featuring an LCD console. To top it all, it will run on an 110cc new generation V-Matic four-stroke engine with AMI (Advanced Microprocessor Ignition) technology.

Reports are that the Maestro is expected to hit the roads by early 2012, and Hero MotoCorp has pinned lot of hopes on this model for establishing its new identity in the Indian households.

Coming to the comparison between the two models let us now discuss the engine specifications.

Hero MotoCorp Maestro is integrated with 109 cc four-stroke, single cylinder, air-cooled engine generating an expected power of 8Bhp and torque of 8.5 Nm almost the same as Honda Activa. Both vehicles share the same platform but while Hero MotoCorp Maestro is blessed with variomatic transmission followed by dry automatic centrifugal clutch system with CDI ignition, Honda Activa scores for its embedded V-Matic transmission and self and kick ignition system.

Next comes the chassis type: Hero MotoCorp Maestro has high rigidity underbone type chassis though the exact specifications are yet to be revealed, whereas Honda Activa again has high rigidity underbone type chassis with dimensional measurement (lxbxh) of 1761 x 710 x 1147 mm, wheel base of 1238 mm with seat located at height of 765 mm and ground clearance of 145 mm.

But there are many similarities between the two models. Let's start with tyre size: the size of front and the rear tyres of both Hero MotoCorp Maestro and Honda Activa is 3.5 x 10 mm. Even while integrating safety measures, Hero MotoCorp Maestro and Honda Activa share the same size.

So, the front and rear brakes have measurement of 130mm drum. Finally for comfort driving during night both Hero MotoCorp Maestro and Honda Activa are powered by battery of 12V 5AH with headlamp of 35W/35W and tail/stop lamp of 5/21W.

But all is not the same and the most important comparative feature of both scooters is their fuel storage capacity, following their erstwhile promotional tag line of 'Fill it, Shut it and Forget it', Hero MotoCorp Maestro has fuel tank capacity of six litres while Honda Activa has fuel tank capacity of 5.3 litre resulting in an economic average.

On the basis of above comparison it can be said that Hero MotoCorp's initiative of launching a scooter is really an appreciating step especially in the scenario when there is decline in demand for scooters in Indian two-wheeler market. Many view it as an impact of various super bikes coming to India.

As far as success of Hero Maestro is concerned it is quite sure that it is from legendary Hero MotoCorp which erstwhile had been the partner of Hero Honda group and had not only dominated but had also successfully launched Activa Scooter in the Indian market. Therefore learning from all gained experiences it can be speculated that Hero MotoCorp Maestro will also create the same success history as created by Honda Activa.