The Hero XPulse 200 is the Indian Motorcycle of the Year 2020!
The Hero XPulse 200 that was launched mid-2019 has won what is the country's most coveted two-wheeler award, the IMOTY or Indian Motorcycle of the Year for 2020. The winner was announced at a gala evening sponsored by JK Tyre and Industries, who have been sponsoring the IMOTY from the very inception of the award, back in 2007. Over the years the IMOTY has grown to become the most prestigious motorcycle award, considering that the IMOTY comprises the most eminent, respected and experienced two-wheeler journalists in India which helps in bringing credibility to it like no other award.
Each year, the IMOTY gets together to choose from the motorcycles launched in the country and the winner is decided on the basis of the point scored by each product, basis various criterion including value for money, fitness of purpose, innovation, suitability to the Indian two-wheeler market, build quality, refinement and more. This year's list of contenders included a long list of interesting motorcycles, but the jury eventually whittled it down to a final shortlist that included the Benelli Imperiale 400, Hero Xtreme 200S, Hero XPulse 200, Honda CB300R, Jawa, KTM 125 Duke, Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 and Yamaha MT-15. An important criteria for a motorcycle to be included in the final list of motorcycles being adjudged is that the manufacturer must make the motorcycle available for the annual jury round, which was held at the Buddh International Circuit.
An important change to the format this year was the inclusion of an external validation agency in the form of Grant Thornton. The agency's team was present at the jury round along with the jury at the time of scoring to collect the final scoring sheets from each jury member and then tabulated the scores. The winner's name was held confidential by Grant Thornton and was revealed only at the award ceremony in New Delhi. Dr Raghupati Singhania, Chairman and MD, JK Tyre and Industries Ltd, handed over the winner's trophy and certificate to Dr Pawan Munjal, Chairman, MD and CEO of Hero MotoCorp in the presence of the entire jury including Aspi Bhathena, Editor of Bike India magazine and current IMOTY president.
The jury this year included Rahul Ghosh and Dipayan Dutta from Auto Today, Jared Solomon and Arup Das from AutoX, Aspi Bhathena and Sarmad Kadiri from Bike India, Sirish Chandran from evo India, Kartik Ware and Pablo Chaterji from Motoring World, OVERDRIVE's Abhay Verma and Rohit Paradkar, the latter making his debut as an IMOTY jury member this year in addition to being a ICOTY (Indian Car of the Year) juror for several years now and also Vikrant Singh from BikeWale.com. Of the shortlisted contenders, there was a tough fight between the top three scorers, the Hero XPulse 200, Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 and Honda CB300R with just 8 points separating them, which is the closest in the history of the IMOTY award.