 "Juan Manuel Santos (left), President of Colombia, and Pawan Munjal inaugurating Hero MotoCorp's Colombia plant")
Hero MotoCorp Ltd (HMCL), one of the the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturers, opened its first global manufacturing facility at Villa Rica in Colombia on September 9, 2015. The plant was inaugurated by Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia, and Pawan Munjal, chairman, MD and CEO of Hero MotoCorp Ltd.
Completed in a little over nine months since construction began, the Colombia plant is Hero’s fifth manufacturing facility, in addition to four assembly plants in India. This Plant will act as a hub for selling to the Andean countries. It can also be a strategic base for shipping to North American markets such as Mexico and the US.
“It is a historic milestone for Hero MotoCorp as this facility in Colombia is our first plant outside of India. This facility will be a key resource for us as we plan to further consolidate our market position with a range of products across segments. The plant will also act as a guiding light, as we work towards transforming ourselves into a global automotive giant with manufacturing facilities across the globe,” said Pawan Munjal, chairman, managing, director and chief executive officer, HeroMotoCorp Ltd.
Spread over 68,000 sq m of land at the Parque Sur free trade zone at Villa Rica in the state of Cauca - about 500 km south-west of Bogota, the plant will have an initial production capacity of 80,000 units per annum. This capacity will be expanded to produce 150,000 units per annum, in the next phase. The plant has been built at a project cost of $ 70 million of which $ 38 million has been utilised in CAPEX and rest will be used as working capital over the next few years.
The new plant will manufacture HMCL’s best-selling and globally successful range of motorcycles and scooters. The plant will manufacture ten products from the HMCL portfolio, including the all-new scooter Dash which was also unveiled here today as part of its global launch.
With the commencement of operations at the manufacturing plant in Colombia, the New Delhi-headquartered HeroMotoCorp has become the first Indian two-wheeler manufacturer to set-up a manufacturing plant in Latin America.
Currently Hero sells its range of two-wheelers through 160 outlets spread across 133 cities and towns in the country. Hero has rapidly augmented its network by adding 69 outlets in 2015 alone.
Hero MotoCorp currently sells its products in 24 countries across the world. In partnership with its local distributors, HMCL has also established assembly units in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in East Africa. With another overseas manufacturing plant coming up in Bangladesh, the company is fast building up a global manufacturing base to cater to growing demand for its products in international markets.
