Hero MotoCorp

“So far all our good products have been credited to Honda. Now we will show the world our strength.” This was BM Munjal, chairman of the Hero Group at the unveiling of the company’s new brand identity. The new Hero MotoCorp logo was unveiled in London amidst much fanfare. It was a starry night with the likes of Shahrukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma making their presence felt. From the sporting world, greats like Boris Becker and David Coulthard were there. Irfan Pathan represented the Indian sporting fraternity.  Artist Akon provided the international glamour.  Along with the identity, Hero also launched a new 150cc bike – Impulse and an 110cc scooter - Maestro. These will be first products under the new brand. Irfan and Ranbir have been roped in as brand ambassadors for these two products. Hero MotoCorp will be setting up a new global parts centre in Rajasthan. And more importantly start two new factories – one in South India and the other in the West. “Our path will be the benchmark,” said Hero MotoCorp (HMC) managing director and CEO Pawan Munjal after announcing these ventures. “Hero's competitors always knew they have made a mistake by being competitors,” he added. “Hero ko pakadna mushkil hee nahin naamumkin hai,” the CEO continued in a lighter vein. Shahrukh’s presence was inspiration enough for these lines.   HMC is planning to replicate their Indian success outside the country. “Every 18 seconds HMC rolls out a new two-wheeler. It has two million-plus models in its portfolio. That's the enormity of the task,” said P Munjal. “We are looking at sales target of 10million units next five years. We expect exports to be about 10 per cent of our total sales,” he added while informing that HMC has already identified 30 countries in Latin America, South East Asia and Africa for exports.   HMC is also looking to create a world class R&D centre to free themselves of the Honda baggage. “In five years we will have a world class R&D centre. No baggage to deal with,” said the CEO.  He further said that HMC will tie up with a European firm soon, despite having a license agreement with Honda till 2014. He also informed that the company would continue to sell its existing Hero Honda products. “The new brand identity has born out of our desire to break the shackles and realise our potential which were restricted by the nature of our JV with Honda,” P Munjal said. The success of Impulse and Maestro will give us a fair indication of HMC’s future

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