World’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer by volumes, Hero MotoCorp will be making its entry in the Latin American country Brazil by 2016. The move comes as part of the company’s plans to enter 50 new markets by 2020. Brazil is one of the fastest growing markets in South America and the automaker wants to capitalize on the growth with its products. The Brazilian market is very similar to India and Hero motorcycles will surely see a demand in the commuter segment space.
Hero is developing its engines specifically for the Brazilian market that will run on both ethanol as well as petrol. Hero’s technical partner AVL will be making the changes to the engines, which come from the company’s existing range. Currently, Hero is looking for a partner in Brazil to launch its products by 2016 that has an estimated market of 2 million two-wheelers per annum. The company will retail its existing product range which includes motorcycles starting from 100cc to 223cc.
Hero will also commence work on its manufacturing facility in Columbia in the next two months that will be completed in a year’s time, and is investing around $70 million in the project. The company stated that the first set of products to Brazil will be sent from India or from the Columbian plant; however, considering the size of the market, the company needs to have a manufacturing facility in the country. The Columbia plant will also supply products to other Latin countries like Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Guatemala and Central America where the company has presence.
Hero has been on a world domination roll, ever since its separation from erstwhile partner Honda. With Honda playing catch up to Hero’s sales figures, the company is looking forward to capture emerging markets with its range of products and is targeting African as well as Middle-East markets. Hero has a target of setting up 20 manufacturing plants across the globe and an annual turnover of Rs. 60,000 crores by 2020.
