Hero MotoCorp hikes vehicle prices.

India’s largest two wheeler compan Hero MotoCorp  has raised prices of most of its products by INR 500 TO INR 1000 with immediate effect, the company said in a statement, to offset rising input costs.

Hero MotoCorp posted net profit of Rs. 6.03 billion which is lower than estimated profit of Rs. 6.15 billion in the quarter ended March, missing analysts estimates, as higher raw material costs damped gains from record sales of bikes and scooters.So for now the primary target of the company is bring down the input cost .

The main reason behind the rising input costs is inflation , depreciation in Rs. currency and the rising wages of the workers .The company is now going to increase the number of touch points and accelerate the number of two wheelers sold so that they can strengthen their brand.

The company plans to launch a number of motorcycles in 2012-13 so that they can continue their supremacy in the market .Also the company aims to increase its overseas footprint and plans to target Latin America and African markets .The company desires to sell 7 million units for the financial year2012-13.

Hero Motocorp has inked deal with Erik Buell Racing and Austria-based AVL to scale up and supplement its in-house research and development and engine technologies.

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Hero Motocorp heads to Africa

In a landmark development, the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (HMCL), recently had  announced forging a strategic partnership with Erik Buell Racing (EBR) of the US, encompassing multiple areas of collaboration to help them develop high end bikes.

After the  the major announcement regarding their tie-up with Erik Buel Racing for technological assistance and cutting edge performance ,Hero Motocorp later announced that it would be making its own engines by teaming up with the world’s largest privately-owned engine developer, AVL of Austria , to develop technology for its bread-and-butter 100cc bikes such as Splendor and Passion.

Hero MotoCorp has finally decided to get things moving with regards to its technology deficit and now they are on an expansion spree , in search of potential markets to globalise their brand . This time they are heading to Africa to set up manufacturing and assembly plants there . Hero Motocorp have  identified growth markets in Africa and thats the reason they think they have good potential to take this market by storm .During their partnership with Honda , they were restricted to India  . Now that they have the opportunity to globalise their brand , we must say they are leaving no stones unturned . And mind you this is just the beginning of Hero Motocorp's expansion spree , Munjal said Hero MotoCorp had sent teams to the continent to find out potential markets for two-wheelers.

"We believe their is a unique opportunity for us to go and do business in two-wheeler segment there. Many of the African countries have shown rapid growth in the two-wheeler segment. Or teams have been visiting almost all of Africa."

Mujal said that although many foreign firms were operating there, the company's operational capability and production capacity would work in its favour.

"Many of our Indian friends have gone there. There are also many Chinese and Thai companies present there, even older and larger Japanese players are there. But because of the way we operate, our scale and volume, we feel Africa offers a great promise."

After their supremacy in India in the two wheeler segment for nearly 10 years ,the company has decided to go global ,they are  currently eying new markets such as Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America .

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Hero MotoCorp teams up with engine developer AVL .

After the  the major announcement regarding their tie-up with Erik Buel Racing for technological assistance and cutting edge performance , the company has announced it would making its own engines by teaming up with the world’s largest privately-owned engine developer, AVL of Austria..

Hero MotoCorp has finally decided to get things moving with regards to its technology deficit. Hero MotoCorp had split up with their Japanese partner Honda however there is no stopping them after the split-up. They have been headlining regularly.

Pawan Munjal, MD & CEO Hero MotoCorp was quoted as saying, “We have tied up with AVL to develop our in-house capabilities in engine technologies. A team from our R&D division is already in Austria. Our team is also working in close coordination with AVL ITC ( India Technical Centre) based in Gurgaon. The team is working on a few options across motorcycles and scooters.”

A couple of days back In a landmark development, Hero MotoCorp had announced forging a strategic partnership with Erik Buell Racing (EBR) of the US, encompassing multiple areas of collaboration. EBR will help Hero Motocorp to provide technological assistance in getting some big machines in the Indian Market whereas its technology tie-up with Austria-based AVL will allow Hero MotoCorp to develop technology for its bread-and-butter 100cc bikes such as Splendor and Passion.

This tie-up with AVL means that Hero MotoCorp can now come up with new engines for Indian bikes without having to look at other manufacturers. "We would be developing engines of all sizes to make new products and also refurbish the existing product lines. Gradually we will develop our own full-scale R&D facility to make products for global market on our own. The multiple technology and engineering would leapfrog to the next level even as we internally enhance our R&D to make products for trans-continental markets," Munjal added. This all also means that the Indian manufacturer will be seen working on engines beyond the 100-223cc range. 

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Hero Motocorp to get into 250cc and above capacity bikes

Hero MotoCorp, is the world's largest two-wheeler maker has and still 250cc and above segment is untouched by the number one motorbike company in the world .  Right now Hero Motocorp has Karizma ZMR and Karizma R as the highest segment motorbike to offer but even these bikes are at most 225cc bikes.
Karizma ZMR was anticipated to be a 250cc then but that didn't happen . Many other Bike companies operating in India have already made themselves ready to enter this segment very soon and take it by storm.

After Hero parted ways with Japanese major Honda, its partner for 27 years, last year, industry watchers had identified lack of cutting-edge technology as the biggest challenge for the Indian firm to hold on to its leadership position in the market. Hero had last week announced a technology tie-up with EBR, its first partnership after splitting with Honda.


It will be a step forward for the cash-rich company in its effort to get out of the shadow of Honda, which has become one of its toughest rivals in the domestic market after the March split.
Hero sells over six million two wheelers every year in India where it holds 56% market share. Under the joint-venture agreement with Honda, Munjals-owned Hero was restrained from exporting vehicles.

After the collapse of the Honda JV, Hero has started setting up sales and distribution channels cross Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia for its motorcycles and scooters.

The Munjal-family that owns 52% stake in the company plans to increase its exposure to overseas market which it wasn't allowed until 2010 by Honda that operates 28 motorcycle production bases in 21 countries (as of April 2011) globally.

Hero is largely India based entity with over 98% of its sales limited to the domestic market. The ownership in the American company is expected to enable Hero to develop fresh technology and churn out new products faster as it compete with its erstwhile ally Honda amongst others.

Right now EBR is working on products for Hero Motocorp which will be developed and ready, to be fitted in the new scooters and motorbikes to be launched by early 2013. Hero certainly does not desire to launch 1,000cc superbikes as of now because it wants to reach there in a steady and swift motion, step by step.So do expect a quarter liter version from Hero Motocorp in 2012 .
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