Hero MotoCorp unveils new identity, business plan

World number one two-wheeler company, Hero MotoCorp revealed its new face and logo, along with one new bike and another scooter at a gala, superstar-studded mega event in London.

Addressing the over-1000 strong audience comprising of the firm’s dealers, senior employees and other associates who had travelled to London from all parts of India, Mr. Pawan Munjal also outlined his vision for the company. “In the next five to six years, we are aiming for a Perfect 10 – annual sales of 10 million units and annual turnover of US$10 billion with overseas business contributing about 10 per cent to our total annual volume sales. We have identified key countries in Africa, South East Asia and Latin America as our potential markets. We should be starting exports to some of the countries in Africa towards the next quarter of this fiscal.”

Hero MotoCorp says it is exploring opportunities for collaboration with international design houses and technology suppliers, who could be from Europe or Japan.

Hero Motocorp, which clocked 500,000 units in monthly sales during the first quarter of this year, will set up two new plants to achieve it target of 10 million units in annual sales. For the current year, the company has set a target of selling 600,000 units. The company will invest 1 billion USD over the next 5 years to achieve its stated target. Managing director and CEO Pawan Munjal says the investment figure is more than what the company invested over the last 27 years. No expense will be spared to buy and bring in new technology from around the world, with new technical collaborations being in the offing in Japan, as well as Europe. Hero MotoCorp plans two new plants in the near future, one in South India and another in Western India. The investments for the new plants will be through internal accruals, says the company.

HeroMotocorp can currently produce little over 6 million units annually from its three manufacturing plants at Dharuhera and Gurgaon in Haryana, and Haridwar in Uttarakhand.

In December last year, the Indian promoter of the firm, the B.M. Munjal family had agreed to buyout the entire 26 per cent stake of Honda in Hero Honda for Rs 3,841.83 crore. It brought an end to a 26-year-old successful joint venture. Marking the new beginning, Hero MotoCorp launched two models – a new 149.2cc motorcycle called the Impulse and Maestro – a 110cc scooter. A sign of things to come, the new bike shows us the fresh face of Hero as it treads a bold new path, entering the hot and relatively unexplored on-off road motorcycle segment in India.

For the April-June quarter, Hero Motocorp had a 47 percent market share in the two-wheeler industry.