Hero MotoCorp lines up new products; plans sales infra upgrade for premium play

Hero MotoCorp plans to roll out new models and ramp up the sales network as it looks to have a substantial market share in the premium bike segment in the domestic market, CEO Niranjan Gupta said on Tuesday. The country’s largest two-wheeler maker currently has just 4-5 per cent market share in the premium bike segment which has been growing at a rate of 20-25 per cent per year.

The company, which is a leading player in the entry-level and commuter segments below 150 cc, is looking to introduce a new product every quarter in the next one year to ramp up its presence in the 150cc to 450cc bike segment.

“The game for us (premium segment) is just starting. So if we look at market share, it will probably be around 4-5 per cent but that’s because it is just the beginning for us,” Hero MotoCorp CEO Niranjan Gupta told reporters here.

The company’s job is to create a full portfolio of premium products very rapidly and it is being done, he added.
When asked about the company’s expectations regarding the market share gain in the segment, Gupta said: “We would like to have a meaningful gain.” Each of the new products launched in the segment will add to the company’s market share, he stated. Every quarter at least for the next three to four quarters, there would be a new product launch in the segment, Gupta said. “We are going to have 500 stores over the next eight quarters. These are facelifted versions of the existing stores. Also, we will have exclusive stores over the next four quarters. So all of this is just not a strategy involving new products but a 360-degree approach that we have taken to win in the premium segment,” he noted.

The company on Tuesday re-introduced the Karizma brand in the country. It launched the Karizma XMR priced at an introductory price of Rs 1.72 lakh (ex-showroom).

The 210cc bike comes with a liquid cooled petrol engine mated with six speed transmission.

The launch of Karizma XMR marks yet another significant milestone in the company’s journey to win in the premium segment, Gupta stated. In July this year, Hero MotoCorp introduced locally produced Harley-Davidson X 440 in the market.

When asked if the recovery of the entry-level two-wheeler segment could be delayed due to the projections of a deficient monsoon this year, he said: “The recovery can get delayed by one or two months, maybe a quarter but the long-term growth story is very strong.”

All economic indicators remain positive, Gupta said.