Hero Honda, the country's largest two-wheeler maker and leader in the 100cc bike segment launched its fourth bike in the premium (150cc+) segment today, in an effort aimed to boost festive sales.
Named 'Hunk', the bike comes in the range of Rs 55,000-57,000 depending on the two variants-with the kick start priced at Rs 55,000, and the self-start which comes for Rs 57,000. The other premium segment bikes from the Hero Honda stable are Achiever, CBZ Xtreme and Karizma.
The Hunk will compete against other bikes like Bajaj Pulsar, TVS Apache and Honda Unicorn.
Speaking at the launch, Anil Dua, vice president- sales and marketing, Hero Honda, said: "The contribution of the premium bike segment to bike sales this year has gone up from 10% to 14%. The market is growing and with the new model we will offer good choices to customers."
While the premium bike market has seen a steady increase in growth of about 30-33% in sales, bikes in the 100cc segment have seen a steady decline in growth rate. While the rising interest rates have affected sales in the entry level segment, they have not affected sales of bikes in the premium segment.
Even as Hero Honda remains as the market leader in 100cc segment with over 67% share, it is still to catch up with Bajaj, which is market leader in the premium segment. While Bajaj has a more than 60% market share, Hero Honda has around 18%.
However, Hero Honda's has had a fast growth in this segment doubling its volume and share in the last nine months. Hero Honda’s overall share in the two-wheeler market stands at 52%.
Arch-rivals Bajaj Auto had cut the prices of its 100cc bike - Platina by Rs 4,000 thus making it the cheapest entry level bike in India. Hero Honda too had cut prices of CD Dawn by Rs 2,000 but has not plans to offer any further discounts on any of its models.
The Hunk will be commercially available by the end of this month across all the company's showrooms.
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