Hero MotoCorp

Hero Motocorp Ltd

Type

Public company

Industry

Automotive

Founded

19 January 1984 (Gurgaon)

Founder(s)

Brijmohan Lall Munjal

Headquarters

New Delhi, India

Key people

Brijmohan Lall Munjal (Chairman) Pawan Munjal (MD & CEO)[1]

Products

Motorcycles, scooters, three-wheeler vehicles and spare parts

Revenue

19,669.290 crore (US$4.33 billion)[2]

Parent

Hero Group

Hero Motocorp Ltd. (BSE: 500182, NSE: HEROMOTOCO) formerly Hero Honda is an Indian motorcycle and scooter manufacturer based inNew Delhi, India. Hero Honda started in 1984 as a joint venture between Hero Cycles of India and Honda of Japan.[4] The company is the largest two wheeler

manufacturer in India.[5] The 2006 Forbes 200 Most Respected companies list has Hero Honda Motors ranked at 108.[6] In 2010, When Honda decided to move out of the joint venture,[7] Hero Group bought the shares held by Honda.[8] Subsequently, in August 2011 the company was renamed Hero MotoCorp with a new corporate identity.[9]
Contents
[hide]

1 Company profile 2 History

o o

2.1 Termination of Honda joint venture 2.2 Hero MotoCorp

3 Company performance 4 Recognition 5 Motorcycle models 6 Suppliers 7 References 8 External links

[edit]Company

profile

Hero is the brand name used by the Munjal brothers for their flagship company Hero Cycles Ltd. A joint venture between the Hero Group and Honda Motor Company was established in 1984 as the Hero Honda Motors Limited At Dharuhera India. Munjal family and Honda group both own 26% stake in the Company. In 2010, it was reported that Honda planned to sell its stake in the venture to the Munjal family. During the 1980s, the company introduced motorcycles that were popular in India for their fuel economy and low cost. A popular advertising campaign based on the slogan 'Fill it - Shut it - Forget it' that emphasised the motorcycle's fuel efficiency helped the company grow at a double-digit pace since inception. The technology in the bikes of Hero Honda for almost 26 years (19842010) has come from the Japanese counterpart Honda [10] Hero MotoCorp has three manufacturing facilities based at Dharuhera, Gurgaon in Haryana and at Haridwar in Uttarakhand. These plants together are capable of churning out 3 million bikes per year.[11] Hero MotoCorp has a large sales and service network with over 3,000 dealerships and service points across India. Hero Honda has a customer loyalty program since 2000,[12] called the Hero Honda Passport Program. The company has a stated aim of achieving revenues of $10 billion and volumes of 10 million two-wheelers by 2016-17. This in conjunction with new countries where they can now market their two-wheelers following the

disengagement from Honda, Hero MotoCorp hopes to achieve 10 per cent of their revenues from international markets, and they expected to launch sales in Nigeria by end-2011 or early-2012. In addition, to cope with the new demand over the coming half decade, the company was going to build their fourth factory in South India and their fifth factory in Western India. There is no confirmation where the factories would be built.
[edit]History
[13]

Hero MotoCorp was started in 1984 as Hero Honda Motors Ltd.[4]

1956 -- Formation of Hero Cycles in Ludhiana(majestic auto limited) 1975 -- Hero Cycles becomes largest bicycle manufacturer in India. 1983 -- Joint Collaboration Agreement with Honda Motor Co. Ltd. Japan signed Shareholders Agreement signed

1984 -- Hero Honda Motors Ltd. incorporated 1985 -- Hero Honda motorcycle CD 100 launched. 1989 -- Hero Honda motorcycle Sleek launched. 1991 -- Hero Honda motorcycle CD 100 SS launched. 1994 -- Hero Honda motorcycle Splendor launched. 1997 -- Hero Honda motorcycle Street launched. 1999 -- Hero Honda motorcycle CBZ launched. 2001 -- Hero Honda motorcycle Passion and Hero Honda Joy launched. 2002 -- Hero Honda motorcycle Dawn and Hero Honda motorcycle Ambition launched. 2003 -- Hero Honda motorcycle CD Dawn, Hero Honda motorcycle Splendor, Hero Honda motorcycle Passion Plus and Hero Honda motorcycle Karizma launched.

2004 -- Hero Honda motorcycle Ambition 135 and Hero Honda motorcycle CBZ* launched. 2005 -- Hero Honda motorcycle Super Splendor, Hero Honda motorcycle CD Deluxe, Hero Honda motorcycle Glamour, Hero Honda motorcycle Achiever and Hero Honda Scooter Pleasure.

2007 -- New Models of Hero Honda motorcycle Splendor NXG, New Models of Hero Honda motorcycle CD Deluxe, New Models of Hero Honda motorcycle Passion Plus and Hero Honda motorcycle Hunk launched.

2008 -- New Models of Hero Honda motorcycles Pleasure, CBZ Xtreme, Glamour, Glamour Fi and Hero Honda motorcycle Passion Pro launched.

2009 -- New Models of Hero Honda motorcycle Karizma:Karizma - ZMR and limited edition of Hero Honda motorcycle Hunk launched

2010 -- New Models of Hero Honda motorcycle Splendor Pro and New Hero Honda motorcycle Hunk and New Hero Honda Motorcycle Super Splendor launched.

2011 -- New Models of Hero Honda motorcycles Glamour, Glamour FI, CBZ Xtreme, Karizma launched. New licensing arrangement signed between Hero and Honda.

August-- Hero and Honda part company, thus forming Hero MotoCorp and Honda moving out of the Hero Honda joint venture. November-- Hero launched its first ever Off Road Bike Named Hero "Impulse".
[edit]Termination

of Honda joint venture

Main article: Hero Honda split In December 2010, the Board of Directors of the Hero Honda Group have decided to terminate the joint venture between Hero Group of India and Honda of Japan in a phased manner. The Hero Group would buy out the 26% stake of the Honda in JV Hero Honda.[14] Under the joint venture Hero Group could not export to international markets (except Sri Lanka) and the termination would mean that Hero Group can now export. Since the beginning, the Hero Group relied on their Japanese partner Honda for the technology in their bikes. So there are concerns that the Hero Group might not be able to sustain the performance of the Joint Venture alone.[15]
[edit]Hero

MotoCorp

The new brand identity and logo, Hero MotoCorp, was developed by the London firm Wolff Olins.[16] The logo was revealed on 9 August 2011 in London, the day before the third test match between England and India.[16] Hero MotoCorp can now export to Latin America, Africa and West Asia.[16] Hero is free to use any vendors for its components instead of just Honda-approved vendors.[16]
[edit]Company

performance

During the fiscal year 2008-09, the company sold 3.7 million bikes, a growth of 12% over last year. In the same year, the company had a market share of 57% in the Indian market.[17] Hero Honda sells more two wheelers than the second, third and fourth placed two-wheeler companies put together.[10] Hero Honda's bike Hero Honda Splendor sells more than one million units per year.[18]
[edit]Recognition

Logo of Hero Honda, as the company was known till Aug. 2011

The Brand Trust Report [19] published by Trust Research Advisory has ranked Hero Honda in the 13th position among the brands in India.

Hero Moto Corp. The New Brand Identity

In continuation with the post named as Hero Sans Honda, discussing the kind of options that are available with the company to get this change as successful as possible, now lets just focus on how the company has now gone ahead with the change earlier than the time that it itself had asked Honda group for and paid a huge amount of money to Honda group to be able to use the Honda name for its products till 2014. This marks a new beginning for the company in the field of motorcycle manufacturing on their own after a long journey they made together with the major two-wheeler stalwart of the world Honda.

This change was made successful with the efforts being put in by the top management to get this change done as soon as possible and the efforts of the Wolf Ollins a global rebranding exercise specialist from Omnicom group and M/S Law & Kenneth as the creative partner to the Wolf Ollins group. And the company went ahead with the launch of the new brand Identity for the company with a gala launching function at O2 arena in London on the banks of river Thames, on August 9th, 2011 a lot sooner than the deadline of year 2014 as was chosen by the company itself, in which the companys top brass including the Chariman Dr. Brij Mohan Lal (Chariman) and Mr. Pawan Munjal (MD and CEO) and a lot of celebritys were present(Shahrukh Khan, David Couldthard (Formula One Driver), Boris Becker (Former Tennis Player), Akon (R&B artist) and Irfan Pathan to name a few who graced the gala occassion) along with the dealers, employees and their associates. The launch function went ahead successfully and the company got a completely new identity under the new name for the company Hero Moto Corp., a brand new logo, a new tag line and a whole new anthem for the company composed by the Oscar award winning stalwart composer of India A. R. Rehman. The company has gone to the extent of launching the new brand in London to make it clear to the world about the global ambitions of the company. The new brand identity looks a lot trendier with the company going for a 3-Dimensional (with a triangle, parallelogram and a trapezoid in the first letter of its name, with sharper edges of the logo denoting style, engineering, innovation and connection with the new brand) denoted by a H in capital letters in a totally vibrant and a trendy style and all the others letters written in lower case letters written in a totally white background with Hero written in red below it. The black color in the logo stands for solidity and premiumness while the Red gives a feeling of energy, passion, and confidence. Regarding the companys new branding, Pawan Munjal, MD & CEO, Hero MotoCorp said, Through this we shall establish a new paradigm. Click here for the source The logo revolves around high energy and space. Speaking about the new logo, Anil S Nair, chief executive officer and managing partner at Law & Kenneth, tells afaqs!, "The new logo is in sync with the overall philosophy of pushing the limits and boundaries. The earlier logo denoted stature". Click here for the source The company has also roped in Ranbir Kapoor and Irfan Pathan as its brand ambassadors to establish a connect with the youth of the country as he has a large fan following among the youth of the country and also continuing with the current brand ambassador Hrithik Roshan.

The company now has got a chance to show the world that they are not just the cycle manufacturers that they used to be then they started and have grown as a major two-wheeler player which can take on the giants of the world in this field by making the others realize the potential of the company which was very much limited earlier as a part of the joint venture with Honda. But now it plans to make the customers understand that they have it in them to provide the customers with the cutting edge technology based products which are completely reliable and can match the style quotient of the other products available in the market.
Now the new anthem for the brand which is of aroung 2 minuted duration basically focuses on establishing an emotional connect with the customers through an emotional appeal in the advertisement, which tells us the stories of a common man in India and then goes on to tell the struggles that they go through daily in their lives to be successful and that there is a hero in everyone of us. Thus the tag line also very aptly fits in with the positioning of the brand Hum mein hai Hero. The advertisement strategy as of now doesnot focus on the celebrity power with the ad talking completely about the common man, and thus directly trying to establish a connect with the common man which Hero Honda as a brand had with the tag line Dhak Dhak go. Click here for the new ad campaign Though to match the success of old tag lines and ads the new advertisement has a long way to go but it seems like a step in the right direction atleast. The company has come up with two new products on the launch ceremony itself a dual mode bike under the brand name Impulse- a 150 cc bike and Maestro a 110 cc gearless scoter.

It seems on the whole that the company has managed the brand transition very meticulously and with precision as otherwise it would have not been able to fill in the shoes left vacant by the end of the partnership between Hero and Honda and it seems that the company is moving in the right direction with the kind of campaign it has come up with on all the different kinds of media like, television, print and other different media available.

Lets hope that Hero Moto Corp Ltd. is able to cater to the needs of the Indian consumers with the same amount of success and with the same amount of care for the needs of the consumers while designing the products as was done by Hero Honda and is able to achieve even greater heights as a completely Indian company that is now ready to take on the world and maintain and strengthen its leadership position in the Indian market. Branding stratergy
Hero MotoCorp Chairman Brijmohan Lall formally announced on July 29, 2011 the end of relationship with Honda and soon after that the new logo and corporate identity, with the taglines Hum mein hai Hero, was launched and communicated through different media. The first priority was given to the TV ads and print media. A 120s TVC and a full page print ad were the branding strategy planned and executed. Later radio channels and online social media were focused.

The TVC had everything it needed (AR Magic, Indian Culture, True life story and patriotism since ad was written as an anthem and was launched on Independence Day) to create the spirit of a hero.
Branding Factors : Charles Wright, managing director says, in an interview with afaqs, that it did take them 3-4 months in launching their logo. The red color indicated continuity & change and angular H symbolized that Hero was no longer dependent. The TV Commercial is directed by Anurag Kashyap & Robby Grewal and produced by Red Ice Productions and features music and the title track by A R Rahman.

Anurag Kashyap, the director to many eminent films like Black Friday, Bombay Bombing etc, was proposed to direct this ad so as to bring a natural life and story to it. The commercial was created with the motive of understanding that everyone had a hero inside him/her rather than creating an ad with the motive as a manufacturer. The TVC had everything it needed (AR Magic, Indian Culture, True life story and patriotism since ad was written as an anthem and was launched on Independence Day) to create the spirit of a hero. Bollywood actors Ranbir Kapoor and cricketer Irfan Pathan are also brought in to endorse the brand. It is said Hrithik Roshan will be also continuing with the brand.

Online marketing campaigns:

A quick look into the online marketing campaigns of Hero MotoCorp, it seems they have balanced the priority on both Social Media Marketing and Pay per Click Management from the end of first week August. Social Media Marketing on popular sites like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube seems to pave its way of successful marketing and branding. Facebook fan Page is seen to be the most converting one as it has above 60k fans, second comes the Youtube channel with 300+ subscribers and then latter the twitter handle with around 200+ followers. [Status as of 30-08-2011] Among the PPC networks, Google, Yahoo, Bing and Facebook Ads are used in full swing. Keywords focused included hero honda, hero moto corp, hero honda new logo, honda city, pulsar 220, honda cbr 250r, hero honda india, honda city india, honda minivan, etc

Hero Honda Rebranding To Hero MotoCorp

The year 2010 marked the end of one of the worlds most successful corporate marriages Hero Honda and a new beginning for The Munjals of the Hero Cycles Ltd. Back in 1984, the two firms shared a common belief that India with its burgeoning population, low per capita income and unorganized public transport system, would be in need of frugal means of personal transportation. Hero with its inherent knowledge of selling products in India was the champion in Sales & Marketing and Honda was the undisputed leader in two wheeler technologies worldwide. After 26 years of sharing technology to makethe most economical and fuel efficient motorcycles for the Indian consumers, Honda Motors decided to move out of the joint venture. This divorce enables the Hero Group to export its motorcycles to other nations which was not possible earlier and brings us to an exciting birth of a new brand Hero MotoCorp.

The worlds largest manufacturer of two-wheelers by volume sales for nine consecutive years since 2001and one of The Forbes 200 Most Respected Companies in the world Hero Honda has come a long way. With a massive 5 million strong consumer base and more than 20 million two-wheelers on Indian roads, Hero Honda truly became Desh Ki Dhadkan with DhakDhak image touching the hearts and strings of everyone across the nation.Rebranding this big a brand would be a mammoth task in order to move out of the mould of Hero Honda and ride into newer and different horizons. The Hero Group roped in London-based Wolff Olins -a global brand and innovation specialist, to work on its new identity including the brand architecture, brand name, brand logo and brand positioningwith an underlying theme of Creation, Renewal and Re-energizingthe brand.The entire re-branding exercise would involve a gradual shrinkage of brand Honda and place Brand Hero on all its products by 2014. The new logo shows the letter H in capital with a clear white background along with Hero written beneath in Red. The black color in the logo stands for solidity and premium-ness while the Red gives a feeling of energy, passion, and confidence. To represent Hero in 3D, the logo even has a triangle, trapezoid and a parallelogram in the first letter of its name. The sharp edgesdepict style, engineering and innovation. The new logo is designed to relate to the youth and their 'can do' spirit.

The company has rolled out a new anthemHum Mein Hai HERO (Theres a Winner in All of us), composed by A.R Rahman with the campaign launch on 15th August to capture the maximum eyeballs and was received with a lot of excitement and applause by the massesthat could connect the HERO-ism of the brand with their daily challenges and a true winning spirit. I agree with Mr. PawanMunjal, the CEO of Hero MotoCorp, who explains this campaign as a true sense of Indian Catapult which signals that although its roots are very Indian, it is ready for global expansion. I like the way the Hero Group has re-positioned itself for the emerging Brand India. But the real test begins for the Munjals who will now have to look at building very crucial R&D facilities required to operate in a tough market like India. As a consumer, Ive always felt that the real Hero in the new-age Hero Honda bikes was the Honda engineviz. CBZ, Hunk and Karizma. HeroMotoCorpneeds to make its consumers aware of the technology advancements and progress they make in their motorcycles to maintain their leadership position in the market. With players like Bajaj, TVS and Honda rolling out exciting models every year, we just need to wait and watch if the new HERO becomes India Ki NayiDhadkan or not. The Brand Journey of Hero

stratergy Hero MotoCorp's key strategies are to build a robust product portfolio across categories, explore growth opportunities globally, continuously improve its operational efficiency, aggressively expand its reach to customers, continue to invest in brand building activities and ensure customer and shareholder delight.

Hero MotoCorp Pens Strategic Alliance with EBR

by Vikram Gour Posted on 23 Feb 20121522 Views0 Comments

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Hero MotoCorp has announced a strategic alliance with Erik Buell Racing (EBR), USA, under which the two companies will work together on a multistrategy agenda that straddles new product development, R&D initiatives as well as motorsport!

Ever since the Hero and Honda went their separate ways, the industry has been waiting to see just how the Munjal led and newly christened Hero MotoCorp would find its footing in the two wheeler market both in India and abroad. While the agenda to be a global company has been established in numerous speeches by the group bosses, it is only now that the company has taken its first steps towards stepping out of the Honda shadow and look towards the west for new alliances.

It was well known that Hero MotoCorp would need an alliance on the R&D front to move forward. The present line up of products are still Honda derived machines, including the first launch from Hero MotoCorp, namely the Impulse. While the company had goodwill equity and a pretty large pocket, the need was clear for all to see and this has culminated in the alliance with Erik Buell Racing (EBR), a boutique American brand.

The strategic alliance with EBR has been termed as a multi level strategy. The first agenda being the fact that EBR will work closely with Hero MotoCorp technicians to develop motorcycles for Hero MotoCorp. At present the line up that EBR and Hero MotoCorp will work on has not been detailed, however Pawan Munjal, MD and CEO, Hero MotoCorp, did state that these bikes will focus on the youth and include the development of high performance bikes as well. The idea is to develop a product portfolio that will allow Hero MotoCorp make the leap into the big league and have a wide variety of products that cater to both the Indian and international markets. Pawan Munjal also made it very clear that this alliance will also help Hero MotoCorp scale up its R&D initiatives in a big way and that EBR has already commenced work on a number of bikes which will be revealed in the near future. Incidentally, Hero MotoCorp is also developing the concept hybrid scooter called Leap, showcased at the recently-concluded Auto Expo, in collaboration with EBR.

The other aspect of this alliance lies in the realm of motorsport. The venture will see Hero MotoCorp foray into the world of two-wheeler racing for the first time by sponsoring two dedicated racing outfits, Team Hero and AMSOIL Hero in the AMA Pro Road Racing Championship with Danny Eslick and Geoff May piloting two EBR 1190RS superbikes for the two teams, respectively. The first race is scheduled at the Daytona Speedway, at Daytona beach, Florida, USA between March 15th & 17th, this year. While this is a small step in the direction of motorsport, Pawan Munjal also pointed out that the company is looking at this segment with keen interest and is also working on a program to help recruit Indian racing talent as well. He didnt divulge any immediate plans on becoming a part of MotoGP, however Mr. Munjal did say that the AMA Pro Road Racing Championship is just the beginning.

With the two wheeler market in India evolving at a rapid pace and just about every major motorcycle manufacturer across the globe looking at their piece of the pie, the scope that the market offers is at its lucrative best. With a steady market developing for faster and bigger bikes, the time to act is now and Hero MotoCorp knows this only too well. They have been market leaders and while their commuter segment motorcycles continue to bring in the numbers it is essential that the company evolves with what the market demands. No doubt, the EBR alliance will assist on this front, it still remains to be seen just how Hero MotoCorp shapes up their arsenal to take on the market of the future, especially with rival Bajaj having a set and distinct game plan to move forward with multiple brands in its portfolio.