Italian based and Fiat owned Magneti Marelli (MM) entered the Indian shores with the introduction of the AMT (Automatic Manual Transmission) in the Maruti Suzuki Celerio. Hero MotoCorp (HMC), the largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the world, has already got into Joint Venture (JV) with Magneti Marelli in 2013 for the research and development of low-cost EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection) systems right here in India.The Hero MotoCorp-MM JV has begun operations in research and manufacturing facility set up in Manesar in the Haryana state which was inaugurated recently. Now we can hope for better EFI systems at a pretty low cost than the current crop available in the market. Hero MotoCorp is the first Indian company to have its own in-house EFI manufacturing unit.
For all those who are not familiar with the EFI system, Fuel injection means the fuel is directly injected into the engine for combustion whose quantity is decided by the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) depending on the amount of power to be generated. This not only allows for greater power generation but also provides more mileage with the reduction in emission gases. It is also beneficial since it works in pretty much all terrains and extreme climatic conditions without any hassles.
The EFI system comes fitted in all the premium class motorcycles the recent ones being the Yamaha FZ V2.0 and the Bajaj Pulsar RS200. The issue being that they are quite costly to manufacture, it is mostly ignored in the low cost motorcycles. Hero first introduced the EFI in its 125cc Glamour way back in 2006 and now it is plying only in the Karizma ZMR. Hero’s first 250cc bike the upcoming HX250R is supposed to also get EFI.
On account of the pollution control the carburated two- wheelers are permanently banned by European Union in 1993, now there are only FI motorcycles are being sold in EU. Soon this norm will be imposed on Indian Two-Wheeeler industry and Hero could become first in abiding the norm. Replacing the carburetors with the low cost indigenously developed EFI would be very easy for Hero and that would certainly give the Indian two-wheelers giant an edge over other competition.Eugenio Razelli, president and CEO of Magneti Marelli, said:
For us it's a big opportunity as Hero MotoCorp is a big player here and also growing globally, and certainly this JV will also be selling products to other two-wheeler makers. Clearly the market being very price sensitive the selection of technology has been to give good performance at low cost. This is why we have integrated the entire EFI system in a lighter and small module.
The EFI development is very good news of the Indian two-wheeler industry. This can definitely help the market grow much better because the new low cost FI units will only help the manufacturers make more refined and efficient products which is nothing but good news for the end customer itself, and that too without shelling extra money.
Source: ET
By: Pratik Patole