There has been endless news on how Hero MotoCorp is going to enter the export market very aggressively as it plans to invade almost every single country by 2020. Keeping their promise and expanding its global footprint to as many as 50 countries by 2020, the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer today launched a wholly-owned subsidiary in Colombia and laid the foundation stone of a manufacturing plant in the country. This is not the first time Hero has entered a completely new territory.
The foundation stone was laid by Mr. Pawan Munjal himself with the government officials of the country with him. Hero claims that the state of the art manufacturing plant is spread over 17 acres of land at the Parque Sur Free Trade Zone at Villa Rica in the state of Cauca. The project has costed Hero $70 million (Rs. 420 crore). This is just around 500 kms south-west of Bogota. The plant is expected to commence production by the middle of 2015 with an initial installed capacity of 78,000 units. This will go up to around 1,50,000 units in the second phase. Hero now has become the first Indian two-wheeler company to have a manufacturing plant in Latin America.
Hero has been insanely aggressive with their export plans since the partnership with Honda was discontinued. Hero started this by getting technologies from European countries to make their own engines. This will help cater to the needs of international customers where competition is becoming aggressive day by day. These technologies will be seen at home base first in the form of entirely new motorcycles and scooters with brand new engines made by Hero’s tech partners. Export plans, technology tie-ups and leading in the country in terms of sales, looks like there is no stopping Hero now.
