Hero MotoCorp Limited, which was formerly known as Hero Honda has made a remarkable impact in the Indian two-wheeler market. After its split from Honda, it was expected that Hero might not be able to make a significant influence in the market. On the contrary, many experts wrote off the brand after December 2010 when it broke off with Honda. However, Hero threw all critics’ opinions out of the window by not only bagging the leading position in the market but increasing shares, as well.
There were a lot of issues, which Pawan Munjal, the Chairman and Managing Director of Hero MotoCorp dealt with in a recent discussion. “We have just crossed the first hurdle. We have had a three-and-a-half-year transition since the separation with Honda. To my mind, it was just a philosophical date for us. We all thought, could we do it? We did it in the first year itself. We could have used the joint brand for three-and-a-half years. We launched our new brand as early as August 2011. We started work on it in April and rebranded by August that year. There also were other things that we could have continued to use but we chose not to. That was all the time we needed. The next big thing for us will be to put our own products on the road and get a thumbs-up from our customers.”
When asked about what is to follow in the next few months, he added, “We are looking at double-digit number of product launches and have already started rolling out some of these models. Over the next couple of weeks, you will see 10 new products from us. These will be new models, as well as upgrades and refreshes.”
There have been speculations about Hero lowering the price of its products because of increasing competition. Commenting about this aspect, Munjal said, “The really low low-cost bike is still on the drawing board. We have not been able to put it together yet. That said, we are always trying to optimise our costs, even for our current range of products. After terminating its venture with Honda, Hero has commissioned construction of facilities in Colombia and Bangladesh. We started entering the global market about 18 months ago. We have already started selling our products in 20 countries. We are working on building our volumes and recognition for our brands in global markets. We want to be present in 50 countries by 2020. We are setting up a manufacturing facility in Colombia and have tied up with a partner for a unit in Bangladesh. We are now exploring opportunities in Brazil and Argentina. That said, our bedrock will always be the domestic market. We have to increase our reach, customer base and customer loyalty here. Hero targets 10 per cent of its sales from foreign business by the end of the decade. Given that, 90 per cent of our volumes will still have to come from our customer base in the country. India will always remain our most important market. This is our bread-and-butter market.”
