Hero Motocorp overtakes Honda in scooter exports - Report

HMSI still leads in the domestic market in the scooter segment.

Hero Motocorp has beaten Honda Motorcycles & Scooters India (HMSI) to take the top spot as India’s largest exporter of scooters. The company was able to reach this milestone within four years of their separation with the Japanese motorcycle giant as the company decided to venture into international markets on its own.

Also being India’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer with a 40 percent market share in domestic sales, Hero Motocorp managed to export 84,690 scooters in 2014, more than a five-fold jump from its 2013 exports. HMSI stands at number two, just behind Hero with 79,184 exported scooter units, an 85 percent rise from 2013.

Hero MotoCorp expanded its operations into several international markets such as South Africa and South-East Asia. Recently the company announced construction of new assembly plants in Columbia and Bangladesh with a future prospect of building new plants in Argentina and Brazil. The company also plans to foray into the European and American markets by 2016.

Deepak Mokashi, head of global business, Hero MotoCorp said that neighboring markets of Sri Lanka and Nepal and also Turkey put up a good performance as far as scooters are concerned. He said that the company plans to manufacture scooters in Colombia, once the upcoming plant near Cali becomes operational later this year.

Also read: Hero HX250R slated to launch in June 2015

Hero MotoCorp currently has the 100 cc Pleasure and the 110 cc Maestro scooters and has plans to launch the 110 cc Dash and 125 cc Dare scooters to rival HMSI. Currently Honda’s Activa scooter dominates the domestic market with more than 150,000 monthly sales.

[Source - BusinessStandard]