Incoming rival for Royal Enfield’s Himalayan 450

India’s Hero MotoCorp is one of the biggest motorcycle manufacturers on the globe and it’s about to take a swipe at rival Royal Enfield’s Himalayan 450 by launching its own single-cylinder adventure machine, the XPulse 421.

Hero showed sketches of the upcoming bike at EICMA last year, but now the real look has leaked via design registrations that show a detailed CAD model of the bike.

CAD renderings show modern looking styling

The bike marks a notable step upmarket for Hero, which focusses mainly on smaller machines. While it makes one larger model, the Mavrick 440 (based on the Harley-Davidson X440 that’s designed and manufactured by Hero under a licensing deal that sees the company look after Harley’s distribution and marketing in India), Hero’s other bikes are generally simple, small, air-cooled designs. The XPulse 421, with a 421cc, liquid-cooled, DOHC single, will be the brand’s highest-tech offering, and one that’s likely to lead a planned export push from Hero. At the moment, the company sells a vast number of bikes – nearly six million in 2024 – but almost entirely in India. However, it’s announced plans for global expansion, including entering the European market later this year.

The XPulse 421 is likely to have performance that rivals Royal Enfield’s latest Himalayan 450, a machine that, rather like the XPulse 421, marked a technological step forward for its manufacturer and the first liquid-cooled engine from the company.

Hero MotoCorp’s XPulse 421 will take on Royal Enfield’s Himalayan 450

Unlike the slightly retro Himalayan, the XPulse 421 is a modern-looking machine that combines a steel tube chassis with an aluminium swingarm and upside-down forks. The front brake has a radial-mount, four-pot caliper and ABS, and it looks like the instruments will be a TFT digital display. Having shown the sketches late last year, a full unveil of the finished XPulse 421 isn’t expected to be far off now, and Hero’s global ambitions mean it could become the first machine wearing the name that riders outside India get to experience.

More Hero Harleys, too

As well as pushing ahead with the XPulse 421, Hero has signed a deal to expand its collaboration with Harley-Davidson – developing further single-cylinder model based on the existing Hero-designed X440 as well as a completely new machine to wear the Harley-Davidson name.

What’s more, the expanded deal appears to allow the Hero-made Harleys to be offered outside India for the first time. The current X440 is only offered in India under the existing licensing arrangement.

Harley-Davidson’s X440 is currently only sold in India

In a statement, Hero said: “The Company has extended its partnership with Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Inc. in order to expand the Harley-Davidson X440 into new variants as well as to develop a new motorcycle for both domestic and select international markets.”

What those ‘select’ international markets are is unclear, but Australia is currently among only a select group of nations to be offered the Chinese-made Harley-Davidson X350 and X500 parallel twins, both made by Qianjiang (the group behind the Benelli, QJMotor and Keeway brands, among others), so there’s a fairly strong chance the Hero-made Harleys could also eventually make their way here.