Pictures courtesy EICMA
More than 1000 exhibitors from all over the world are
presenting their products at the EICMA 2014 motorcycle show in Milan, Italy.
EICMA is the marketing body of Italy's National Association of Bicycles,
Motorcycles and Accessories (ANCMA). The show is being held from November 4 to
9, 2014. Among the big wigs of the two-wheeler world, is also Hero MotoCorp
from India. Other names include Aprilia
of Piaggio, Benelli, BMW, Ducati, Honda,
Husqvarna, Harley-Davidson, Indian Motorcycles of Polaris, Kawasaki, KTM,
Peugeot, Piaggio, Suzuki, Terra Motors, Triumph, Victory of Polaris and Yamaha.
Hero MotoCorp Ltd (HMCL), the world’s largest manufacturer
of two-wheelers, announced its plans to enter the European markets by the end
of 2015. The company made this announcement at EICMA. In the first phase of its foray into Europe,
Hero MotoCorp aims to launch its products in Italy, Spain and France; followed
by the UK and Germany in the next phase of expansion. To begin with, the
company will launch its first serial-hybrid scooter "Leap" in these
markets, and subsequently bring more models including scooters and motorcycles.
Hero MotoCorp had recently announced an investment of US$
800 million in building capacity across the globe in the next few years.
Expanding aggressively over the past three years, Hero MotoCorp is already
present in over 20 countries across Central & South America, East &
West Africa and Asia.
Italy is home to two of Hero’s strategic alliances – Engines
Engineering and Magneti Marelli -both based at Bologna. Engines Engineering is
a technology partner of Hero MotoCorp while the latter has a joint-venture with
Magneti Marelli in India for developing fuel injection technologies.
In addition to the domestic market in India, Hero MotoCorp
currently sells its products in Sri
Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Egypt and Turkey in Asia; Peru, Ecuador and Colombia
in South America; Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua in Central
America; Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda in East Africa; Burkina Faso,
Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola in West Africa; and
Ethiopia in North Africa.
Hero MotoCorp is setting up two overseas manufacturing
plants in Colombia and Bangladesh that are expected to go on stream in 2015-16.
In partnership with its local distributors, Hero MotoCorp has also set up
assembly units in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
In keeping with its vision to be a global brand, Hero
MotoCorp is set to step into the US and Brazilian market by 2016. Last year,
the company became the fastest company in the world to produce 50 million
two-wheelers in cumulative production.
Hero MotoCorp has four state-of-the-art manufacturing
facilities in India with its latest IGBC-certified platinum class ‘Garden
Factory’ recently being commissioned at Neemrana in the northern Indian state
of Rajasthan. With the ‘Garden Factory’ going on stream, the annual installed
production capacity has gone up to over 7.5 million motorcycles and scooters.
HMCL is also in the process of building two more manufacturing
plants in India. When operational, all these plants – including the ones in
Colombia and Bangladesh – will take the total installed capacity of Hero
MotoCorp to over 12 million units of two-wheelers.