Hero MotoCorp has started operations in Argentina. This will be the company’s 35th market; it aims to expand to 50 by 2020. The Argentinian operation will be a CKD one, and Marwen SA has been appointed as the local distributor. Hero already has identified 40 dealers in the Buenos Aires area, and will have 100 dealers by the end of 2017.
Markets like Argentina and Columbia are low-hanging fruit for Hero, claims MD Pawan Munjal. They offer higher and quicker scope for growth compared to developed western markets. It is also possible that the lack of a suitable product portfolio for developed markets is what is putting plans for those markets on hold for Hero. Mexico is the next market that Hero plans to expand to.
Hero Argentina will initially offer four products: the Glamour, Hunk, Xtreme Sports and Maestro Edge, rebadged the Ignitor, Hunk, Hunk Sports, and Dash. They will have to compete with the Bajaj Pulsar range (‘Rouser’ in Argentina) and various Chinese products in the 500,000-a-year Argentinian motorcycle market. Hero believes that it will gain an advantage over the Chinese thanks to things like quality, performance, reliability, styling and after sales.
It has signed on Diego Simeone as its brand ambassador – he is an Argentine soccer legend and the winner of the Best Soccer Coach for 2016. The second phase of Hero’s Argentine operations will involve products across different segments.
