Hero MotoCorp has appointed Dr. Markus Braunsperger from BMW, Germany as the Head of its R&D division who will take complete charge of the company’s design and development of new products.
At BMW, Braunsperger has held numerous senior roles in R&D, production and strategy and headed the entire R&D function for BMW motorcycles for several years. Moreover, he was also responsible for project management for the BMW 5, 6, and 7 Series and X3, X5, and X7 SUVs (yes, the X7 is coming too).
Braunsperger will join Hero MotoCorp in the first week of October and will lead the 500-strong team of engineers at the upcoming ‘Hero Centre for Global Innovation and Research & Design’ near Jaipur. He has been hired by Hero’s Vice Chairman, Pawan Munjal, and will report in to him.
Braunsperger is expected to further improve the synergy between all of Hero’s technology partners – Erik Buell Racing (EBR) of the USA, Engines Engineering of Italy, and AVL of Austria. Munjal had also hired Markus Feichtner last year from AVL to lead the ‘Engine Design & Development’ division within Hero’s R&D department.
Hero holds 49.2 per cent stake in EBR and will be launching the first of its completely new products – the HX250R sportbike, and the hybrid scooter Leap in the second half of this “financial year”. Hero has already developed three new engines – 100 cc, 110 cc, and 250 cc – to be fitted into its new two-wheelers.
We all know where the 250 cc engine will first go, and it won’t be much later in the day that the 100cc and 110cc engines in new bikes will work alongside the current Hero commuters with Japanese motors. But most importantly, we hope to see a lot better designed Hero motorcycles in the near future.
