If the exit of Honda from Hero Honda was bad, than the worse is yet to come. The Japanese automaker has all of a sudden woken up from sleep and has become way too ambitious. Infact so ambitious that they have started to pull Hero Honda dealers to their network. According to various dealer privy with the matter, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) have offered Hero Honda dealers better margins (close to double) to hop on to their side. This means that not only will Honda dealership expand but Hero Honda dealerships will start reducing if the above action gets executed.
Whether this is ethical or not, can’t be said but business means business to all and Honda is no less in this regard. The company has just 800 dealers in the country, compared to 4500 of Hero Honda. The Karizma makers success is also attributed to the vast dealership chain which helps in excellent reach and servicing. With Honda almost keen to wash out Hero Moto from the top spot, we wait to see how the world’s largest motorcycle maker responds. Maybe the re-branding might do the trick. Till then we only hope higher capacity machines make it to our roads from both these bike mammoths.
