Here’s the much awaited news in the Indian 2 wheeler market. I started posting about this news in BikeAdvice and here it now. Hero Honda has finally become Hero MotoCorp. This much anticipated news is now implemented. The company is the largest two wheeler manufacturer in India.
The 2006 Forbes 200 Most Respected companies list had Hero Honda Motors ranked at 108 which enabled the world to know about this great brand. Also, The Brand Trust Report published by Trust Research Advisory has ranked Hero Honda in the 13th position among the brands in India
Hero is the brand name used by the Munjal brothers for their flagship company Hero Cycles Ltd. A joint venture between the Hero Group and Honda Motor Company was established in 1984 as the Hero Honda Motors Limited at Dharuhera, India. Munjal family and Honda group both own 26% stake in the Company. In 2010, it was reported that Honda planned to sell its stake in the venture to the Munjal family.
During the 1980s, the company introduced motorcycles that were popular in India for their fuel economy and low cost. A popular advertising campaign based on the slogan ‘Fill it – Shut it – Forget it’ that emphasised the motorcycle’s fuel efficiency helped the company grow at a double-digit pace since inception. The technology in the bikes of Hero Honda for almost 26 years (1984–2010) has come from the Japanese counterpart Honda.
Hero Honda has three manufacturing facilities based at Dharuhera, Gurgaon in Haryana and at Haridwar in Uttarakhand. These plants together are capable of churning out 3 million bikes per year. Hero Honda has a large sales and service network with over 3,000 dealerships and service points across India. Hero Honda has a customer loyalty program since 2000 called the Hero Honda Passport Program.
In December 2010, the Board of Directors of the Hero Honda Group have decided to terminate the joint venture between Hero Group of India and Honda of Japan in a phased manner. The Hero Group of India would buy out the 26% stake of the Honda in JV Hero Honda. Under the joint venture Hero Group could not sell into international markets and the termination would mean that Hero Group can exploit global opportunities now. Since last 25 years the Hero Group relied on their Japanese partner Honda for R & D for new bike models. So there are concerns that the Hero Group might not be able to sustain the performance of the Joint Venture alone.
When there were rumours that the company depends totally on its Japanese counterpart – Honda for all it’s R&D and that the company would face a tough time following the exit,the company proved the concept wrong with a series of upgraded (facelifted actually) bikes making the company to be in the limelight always. The company has bikes right from 100 cc to the 225 cc. The Pleasure scooter is also a decent performing vehicle for the company.
Hero Honda has also come up with a new website which is heromotocorp.com. The URL of the old website automatically redirects you to the new one. Though there is not much difference observed in the layout of the site. However, there is a large sized image displaying Hero Honda is now Hero MotoCorp.
The company is likely to dominate the yet to enter African and a few other new market with this new name. After the split between the two major 2 wheeler manufacturers, there are 2 news that impressed me a lot. One is that the company is planning to come up with a bike in the sub 40k price band. The other one is that Hero Honda (Sorry sorry, Hero MotoCorp) is considering launching a dirt bike in India. Guys, please make it really fast.
We wish the company to come up with a lot of new models and to make a great business in all its new markets.
Regards,
M.Naren.
Author – BikeAdvice.in
