Mumbai: Hero Honda Motors, India''s largest motorcycle company, has launched the premium segment 223cc motorcycle Karizma priced at Rs 79,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi).

The bike will be available from June 2003 in a phased manner throughout the company''s 1,500 sales outlets across the country, says Hero Honda Motors chairman Brijmohan Lall Munjal.

The Karizma, fitted with a five-speed gear box and front disc brakes, is positioned in the premium range against offerings like the Bajaj Eliminator and the 250cc Aquila from Kinetic which costs Rs 1.4 lakh.

Hero Honda managing director Pawan Munjal says his company has spent around Rs 30 crore in developing the new model, including other costs. "The model is 90 per cent indigenous with an import content of 10 per cent. We will bring down the import content further in coming years." The launch budget for the bike is around Rs 8-9 crore.

Munjal says Hero Honda is in talks with joint venture partner Honda Motors, Japan, for bringing in the next-generation engines, which will include fuel injection and other features, into India. The new range of engines will span a wide range of capacities and will be introduced in new models from 2004-05.

Hero Honda has finalised a new model plan with Honda Motor, which includes bringing in upgrades for existing models like the CBZ, while the company is planning upgraded variants of its best-selling Splendor / Passion range later this year, says Munjal.

Hero Honda hopes to register a double-digit growth in the first quarter of this year. The company says the fourth quarter sales this fiscal would be much better than the last quarter of the previous year.

Motorcycle and step-thru sales fell 3.3 per cent in March 2003 but posted a modest six per cent growth in April 2003. With the launch of the of the 100cc motorcycle CD Dawn and the 223cc Karizma the product portfolio of the company now caters to a wide cross section of riders.