Hero MotoCorp strengthens tech capabilities, appoints Dr Markus Braunsperger as chief tech officer

Hero MotoCorp Ltd (HMCL) has officially announced the appointment of internationally-acclaimed automotive technology expert Dr Markus Braunsperger as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). This move builds on Hero’s vision to further augment its world-class technology capabilities through the best of global talent, global alliances and state-of-the-art infrastructure.

Dr Braunsperger, who joins Hero MotoCorp as the CTO today, comes from BMW, Germany where he spent 25 years in various roles covering the entire gamut of R&D, production and corporate strategy. Amongst other things, he led the entire R&D function for BMW motorcycles for several years and spearheaded the engineering division. During his term at BMW, he executed the largest implantation of new motorcycle models ever at the company. He was also the head of BMW’s big model line including 4-wheeler models such as 5, 6 & 7 series cars & X3, X4, X5 and X6 SUVs.

Announcing this, Pawan Munjal, vice-chairman, CEO and managing director, Hero MotoCorp Ltd, said: “We have taken immense strides in building our in-house R&D capabilities over the past three years.  We have also significantly scaled up our technology know-how by building a team of highly-skilled engineers and designers from all over the world, and used alliances with leading global technology and design firms to imbibe world class best practices and processes. I am pleased that Markus will now lead our efforts to take our R&D capabilities to an even higher level. With his wealth of domain expertise and global experience, Markus is going to play an integral role in leading Hero’s multi-location R&D eco-system.”

Dr Braunsperger, Chief Technology Officer, Hero MotoCorp Ltd, said, “This is the beginning of an exciting new chapter for me. Mr Pawan Munjal’s passion and vision for Hero convinced me to accept this opportunity to lead R&D at the world’s largest two-wheeler firm at a very interesting point of time in its evolution. He has a clear vision for Hero MotoCorp and all of us at the R&D team are very excited to deliver on that commitment. Hero already has lined-up a range of exciting new products for the next few years, and I am going to work closely with the team to keep up the momentum and keep developing winning products for every market around the world that we enter.”

Meanwhile, Harjeet Singh, who has led the R&D function at Hero MotoCorp for the past several years, will now be the head of the newly-created Global Regulatory function, reporting into Mr Munjal. Additionally, he will also be in-charge of project completion of the world class Hero Centre for Global Innovation and Research & Design at Kukas, on the outskirts of Jaipur in Rajasthan.

Dr. Braunsperger, a Master of Science and Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Munich, has rich experience of excellence in business and product development, leading cross-functional teams, and delivering strong and sustainable gains for one of the world’s leading global brands: BMW. He also achieved extensive expertise and success in streamlining R&D and production processes as well as restructuring management to reduce costs while safeguarding consistency and improving profitability and quality.

Hero MotoCorp has in a short span of time developed a strong team of design and engineering professionals from around the world. The company last year brought in Markus Feichtner to lead the newly-created division of ‘Engine Design & Development’. Feichtner came from the globally-renowned engine specialist, Austria-headquartered AVL, where he was the executive director of AVL’s India Technical Centre, based out of Gurgaon.