Why Hero’s Target of Beating Bajaj is Unrealistic

Hero premium motorcycle sales are nothing to write home about! But their plans are big… Let us understand if they are achievable…

Hero is upbeat after they launched their 200cc range which now includes – Xpulse 200, Xpulse 200T, Xtreme 200S and Xtreme 200R. Essentially, now they have an adventure, tourer, street and faired motorcycle in this ‘premium’ space. With this four-motorcycle strategy they plan to make it big.

Hero’s Sanjay Bhan, Head of Sales and After Sales, recently said that they have plans to ramp up company’s presence in the premium motorcycle space but more importantly, he added that in the next 3-4 years they intend to be number one or close to them. You can read his statement here. But there is a problem…

Hero Premium Motorcycle Sales

The target, clearly, is Bajaj since it is the largest seller in this space. However, the ask is humongous – we tell you how much… In the 125-250cc space Bajaj sold 10.30 Lakh motorcycles in the 2018-19 financial year. In comparison, Hero registered paltry 43,853 unit sales in the same period.

Hero premium motorcycle sales
Xpulse 200 was the most awaited motorcycle from Hero

This means that to catch up with Bajaj, Hero will have to sell almost 23-24 times of its current numbers in this segment. And at the same time, Bajaj’s sales have to remain flat for all these coming years! It must be known that despite being the largest in the entry range (100-125cc), Hero has literally no presence in anything over this. They are the lowest selling premium motorcycle maker behind Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, TVS and off coarse Bajaj!

After HX250R, Hero Ditches 620cc Hastur

In the 150-200cc space, out of the 22.51 lakh units the market registered in the previous fiscal, Hero’s share was a measly ~42000 units! So, as it appears, scaling up to Bajaj is a very uphill task for Hero but the silver lining in the quest is the ‘intent’. So far, Hero was extremely focused on their entry level motorcycles and for the first time they have products to back their shifted focus to the higher capacity models – and few of them look real good. They have been priced fairly well as well.

Hero NOT Selling a Single 150cc Motorcycle Now

Hero premium motorcycle sales
Hero killed the legendary Karizma brand which could have got them volumes in this segment…

We Will Take Some Serious Leaps: Hero’s Sanjay Bhan

So, it will be interesting to see how the market transforms for Hero’s bigger motorcycles and how close they get to Bajaj or others in the coming four years…