Having lost out to rival Bajaj Auto in the 150 cc motorcycle segments, country's largest bike maker Hero Honda is planning to hit back with a revamped version of its performance bike model, CBZ.

"The company has discontinued the production of the CBZ model and is working to revamp it," industry sources said.

According to them, in all probability the revamped CBZ with much better mileage and power delivery would hit the market towards the end of the year.

While company officials are tight lipped on the issue, Hero Honda has already announced that it will have eight new launches this fiscal, including a fuel injection model in the 125-cc segment. Of the eight launches, four will be new models and four other will be variants of existing models.

After the initial success of its launch in 1999, CBZ had failed to keep pace with Bajaj's runaway success Pulsar in the 150-cc category on account of its low mileage and higher pricing.

Hero Honda had brought cosmetic changes to the model by introducing CBZ Star, which also did not do much to boost sales. Later, the company introduced another 150-cc bike 'Achiever' last year but still Pulsar proved a difficult proposition to beat.

The company has its task cut out to combine a better mileage and power package for its CBZ to better Pulsar on which Bajaj is introducing the fuel-injection technology to launch it this year.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1637138.cms