Hero MotoCorp, which is India’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer on the back of high volume of motorcycles, is now aiming for a dominant position in the scooter segment also. The company on Tuesday unveiled two indigenously developed scooters — Duet and Maestro Edge — which will hit the market by the middle of next month.
Hero’s erstwhile partner Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) is the current leader in the scooter market. Though in FY15 Hero was at the second position in the first five months of the current fiscal there’s been a neck and neck competition between Hero and TVS for the second position. In fact, during April-August the cumulative sale of TVS was marginally higher at 2.9 lakh units than Hero’s 2.4 lakh units. Of the 1.9 million scooters sold during this period, HMSI was far ahead at 1.1 million units.
Similarly, during FY15, of the total 4.5 million unit sales of scooters, HMSI’s volumes stood at 2.5 million, while that of Hero was at 7.5 lakh and TVS’s at 6.8 lakh units. Clearly, Hero’s sales of scooters has not been good this fiscal. “With the unveiling of the Duet and Maestro Edge, Hero has entered the next phase of its exciting journey. Clearly, the target is to gun for market leadership in the segment too,” CMD Pawan Munjal said after unveiling the new scooters.
The Maestro Edge, which is priced between Rs 49,500 and Rs 50,700 (ex-showroom Delhi), will go on sale from October 13, the first day of the Navratras. Roll out of the second scooter Duet would follow thereafter. The company did not disclose the model’s price and launch date.
Both scooters have been developed in-house keeping global customers in focus, Munjal said. “These products are a testimony to our ongoing efforts to create a world class R&D ecosystem that will create products from India for the world,” he added. Built on a new engine and chassis platform, the models were first showcased at the 2014 Auto Expo.
It is essential for Hero to build scales in the scooter segment because currently the motorcycle segment is witnessing a decline on the back of low rise in rural income, whereas scooters are witnessing growth mainly because it’s an urban-centric vehicle. During FY15, motorcycle sales at 10.7 million was up 2.5% whereas scooters at 4.5 million witnessed a growth of 25%. During April-August this fiscal, motorcycle sales fell 4.3% to 4.3 million units whereas scooters grew 10.8% at 1.9 million units.
Hero MotoCorp currently sells two scooter models, Maestro and Pleasure, clocking average sales of 60,000 units a month.
