International Dealer News IDN 124 April/May 2015 | Page 10

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Hero MotoCorp record year Buy Tyres
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Route 66
INDIAN giant Hero MotorCorp, the
largest PTW manufacturer in the world
by unit volume, says its sales grew by
6.2 percent in their latest financial year
(April 2014 - March 2015) compared
to their 2013/2014 year.
It sold 6,631,826 two-wheeler units,
finishing the 12 months with 531,750
unit sales in March’15 (up from
524,028 units in March 2014).
In other news, March saw HMC-MM
Auto Ltd., the joint venture between
Hero MotoCorp Ltd. and Milan (Italy)based Magneti Marelli, inaugurate its
first autonomous ‘Production and
Development Centre’ near New Delhi.
The new centre will serve as a
production facility and innovation hub
to develop new-generation fuelling
systems for HMCL two-wheelers. With
the commencement of operations at
the Development Centre, HMCL is set
to become India’s first two-wheeler
manufacturer to have its own EFI
Product-line", according to the
company.
In fact, it has been quite a few months,
indeed years, for Hero - with multiple
new facility initiatives in India and
international strategic partnerships,
including in Turkey, high profile
sponsorships (Tiger Woods no less),
and an announcement at the 'Milan
Show' in November last year that the
company intends to set up in Europe
and start selling to Mediterranean

markets later this year.
However, one important strategic
partnership that was theoretically
designed to play a huge role in giving
Hero the horsepower to create a
dealer network and sales in North
America and Europe, and ultimately
allowing them to enter the large
displacement and performance
markets, has just "gone south" on
them.
Their 2013 acquisition of a 49.2
percent stake in Erik Buell's East Troy,
Wisconsin EBR set-up, replete with
European office headed up by ex Zero
and Triumph man Edwin Belonje, filed
for bankruptcy protection in mid-April.
It would appear that the $25m that
Hero gave Buell for their noncontrolling near half ownership wasn't
nearly enough to allow the company
to realise the ambitions of its well

received 1190cc Rotax engined
project (and other plans), and that
Hero haven't been minded to add to
the funding to secure their existing
investment.
Unless Hero has a "cunning plan" inplay, the decision to cut their losses
appears strange - Erik Buell and the
resources that EBR was slated to
develop for Hero in North America and
Europe were highly strategic, and
included development of new models,
right through the displacement band,
and new technologies, inc Y[