Hero MotoCorp starts ops in Africa, LatAm

The country’s largest two-wheeler maker, Hero MotoCorp, on Monday said it had commenced operations in Africa, Latin and Central America.

Pawan Munjal, managing director & chief executive officer, Hero MotoCorp, said: “We have started despatches to our new international markets in Central and Latin America and Africa. Our first consignments of two-wheelers have already been shipped to Peru in Latin America, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in Central America and to Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast in Africa.”

The company is set to despatch the first lot of two-wheelers to Kenya later this month.

It has already appointed new distributors and channel partners in these markets, where retail sales of the Hero two-wheelers is likely to commence in the first quarter  of this financial year. Hero motorcycles to be sold in these markets include a mix of models from the 100cc and 125cc range.

Hero MotoCorp has earmarked Rs 1100 crore as capital expenditure for the current financial year. It includes an investment of about Rs 600 crore on the company’s upcoming fourth plant and global parts centre at Neemrana, and Rs 100-150 crore on a state-of-the-art integrated R&D centre at Kukas (near Jaipur in Rajasthan).

These initiatives are in line with Hero MotoCorp’s vision of reaching a total of 10-million unit volumes in a few years’ time, and garnering a million units — 10 per cent of that — from international business. The company currently registers around 2.5 per cent of its volumes from sales in overseas markets.

To meet this objective, the company has already short-listed as many as 30 countries across Latin America, Central America, Africa and South East Asia.

Colombia is the only country in Latin America where Hero MotoCorp currently exports to. The other international markets where Hero two-wheelers are sold include Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.