6 new Hero bikes coming this fiscal year, Hero MotoCorp to go for aggressive market share gains.

2015 Hero Duet Test Ride
The Hero Duet is one of its best selling scooters

Hero MotoCorp has planned an action-packed year ahead. The company confirms that it is all set to launch 6 new products across segments this financial year (by March 2018). The world’s largest 2-wheeler manufacturer had launched the new Glamour last month.

Hero MotoCorp will be investing Rs. 2500 crores over the next two years on new product development, digitisation, phase-wise capacity installation and expansion at its existing facility at Gujarat and upcoming plants at Andhra Pradesh and Bangladesh. Hero says this capital expenditure will also include investments to upgrade and modernise the existing plant and machinery at their already existing facilities.

Through these new launches and fresh capacity installation, Hero MotoCorp is targeting a double-digit growth and market share gains. The Karizma maker is also focusing on premium segment of motorcycles and scooters as well as making an effort to reduce its costs to grow both in terms of gross as well as net profits. Meanwhile, it is gearing up to launch the Hero Xtreme 200S early next year, taking two years to launch the motorcycle in the market after first showcasing it at the 2016 Auto Expo.

Hero MotoCorp plans to achieve all these by judicious utilisation of its resources and rationalisation of costs. The firm has already done some strategic investments before, it had installed additional capacity through its new manufacturing plants at Neemrana in Rajasthan and at Halol in Gujarat. The erstwhile Hero partner has also built a Global Parts Centre at Neemrana and has invested Rs. 850 crores for a Research and Development (R&D) facility called Centre of Innovation and Technology (CIT) at Jaipur.

With all these initiatives, Hero plans to consolidate its leadership in FY18 without compromising on its margins. However, Honda is breathing down the neck of Hero and could overtake them to become the top selling 2-wheeler brand in the sub-continent. The difference in sales between the two brands was just 12,377 units last month.

New Hero Bikes

– Hero MotoCorp will be launching 6 new products this financial year
– The company will be investing Rs. 2500 crores over the next two years
– Through these new launches and investments, the company is targeting double-digit growth

2016 Hero Xtreme 200S
Hero MotoCorp is gearing up to launch the Xtreme 200S