[RT13]

Originally Posted by 2cents

^^ me too thinks it should be 'Motors'. Or perhaps, they still wanted it to sound japanese - 'hiromoto', like 'aginomoto'.

Originally Posted by ani_meher

They should name it as Hero Hando. The O name end and similar phonetic name, both birds will be killed by one stone.

Originally Posted by ottocycle

"Hero Hindustani" could a be good name. The acronym remains the same.

Another option, Hero Hindustan Motors.

Originally Posted by thedreamcatcher

Sounds Japanese now. Imagine an old shaolin monk saying it while training his pupil to break a log

Heyroh Mottohh... Yoohhhh

Well what else rhymes with it. Oh yes, Ajino Moto

Originally Posted by D.V.R

Instead of HeroMoto I feel they should have named it as HeroHondo as it is pretty close to HeroHonda.

First things first, before shooting off silly suggestions, you need to understand a little context. Hero Honda is no longer a jv (as is well known). To my knowledge, the terms and conditions of the jv allow Hero to use the HH name on all existing models. However, this is really not a long-term solution since this will ensure that they thrive on past success. Bajaj and TVS were in similar positions about a decade ago when they knew that they would, in the future, part ways with Kawasaki and Suzuki. They did what Hero Honda did not - invest in R&D. They struggled, they faltered but today, they are starting to reap the rewards. The first couple of generations of Pulsars weren't the greatest, but each succeeding generation has seen improvement and they now have a product successful enough to stand on its own (by dropping 'Bajaj' from the branding). TVS came out with the Victor which wasn't the most inspiring. But that, along with their constant push on domestic track circuits, has seen them improve in leaps and bounds. Today the Apache rules the roost in its segment. Both these brands have the strength to stand apart from their JV partners. Notice also that their strength and their relationship has meant that neither Kawasaki nor Suzuki have even entered their space really. Suzuki has launched in India but they aren't even viewed as serious competition in the motorcycling arena. In the scooter segment its a different ballgame and TVS, which had a head start way back when, really dropped the ball on that one. In all this what did HH do? Jack s*it! They haven't had a single iconic design of their own. Now, they're in trouble. They sell millions of commuter bikes ALL of which were Honda designs. Now they have NO R&D capability. They have a window of time (perhaps about 3 to 5 years) in which to build an independent brand which is capable of picking up where HH left off.

This is the context in which they called in Wolff Olins

Wolff Olins to create new brand identity for Hero - Economic Times
Hero Honda Partners with Wolff Olins for Hero’s Brand Development

For those of you who don't know, Wolff Olins are among the most respected brand consultants in the world. They are nobody's fool!

Now, for those bright suggestions which I quoted above, please understand that HH is a monster brand - a respected, iconic, Indian household brand. Making it into a 'Hero Hando' or 'Hero Hondo' or 'Hero Hindustan' or whatever is just not an option. Aping the Japanese is the route that a 'fraud brand' would take. It is a very shortsighted view and is laughable at best. No serious brand would do that. Coming up with something like that is equal to finding fake t-shirts and auto parts in the Daryaganjs of the world. Imagine buying a Joo Rocket jacket or worse a Kwasaki Ninji bike. Its just plain idiotic and a recipe for brand suicide.

An Indian name is not even an option because it instantly sets you back 2 decades in brand perception. The second you use 'Hindustan' in a brand, there is no way you can position yourself as advanced, tech-led, agile and corporate. You will automatically be associated with the good ol' Amby's of the world.

In the end Hero Moto doesn't sound like the greatest, I do admit. However, given the options, trust me when I say it isn't the worst either. Please also understand that the COMPANY NAME is being registered. How they choose to use their BRAND (which is an entirely different thing) is a different story. For example, look how TATA has handled the MANZA. It is no longer 'INDIGO MANZA' but just MANZA. This is because the INDIGO is now associated with taxis and therefore cannot be positioned as aspirational. Similarly, we'll have to wait and see how Hero chooses to address their situation.

Originally Posted by Gooney

The exercise of renaming Hero Honda brings to perspective the immense intangible value the word Honda brought to the brand name. I admit in the '80s not many consumers were aware of Honda as a brand, and any other name would have added the same brand value to Hero. However, things are very different now and consumers are much more aware, and the weakness of Hero as a name and brand becomes painfully acute now. No matter how many permutations and combinations it tries, Hero on its own has a very very uphill task in filling Hero Honda's shoes (beand name - wise).

+1000! And this is the nub of the problem

Cheers,

Rahul

[CARDEEP]

The new bike brand (Hero Moto) is already facing competition from the erstwhile partner. Please refer this Motorbeam Report:

Honda Starts Wooing Hero Honda Dealers

Guess life could become difficult till 2014, & really difficult after that since HH/HM do not have any R&D of their own except few snazzy product planners who are actually failed plastic surgeons .

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by RT13

First things first, before shooting off silly suggestions, you need to understand a little context.
This is the context in which they called in Wolff Olins

Wolff Olins to create new brand identity for Hero - Economic Times
Hero Honda Partners with Wolff Olins for Hero’s Brand Development

For those of you who don't know, Wolff Olins are among the most respected brand consultants in the world. They are nobody's fool!

Now, for those bright suggestions which I quoted above, please understand that HH is a monster brand - a respected, iconic, Indian household brand. Making it into a 'Hero Hando' or 'Hero Hondo' or 'Hero Hindustan' or whatever is just not an option. Aping the Japanese is the route that a 'fraud brand' would take. It is a very shortsighted view and is laughable at best. No serious brand would do that. Coming up with something like that is equal to finding fake t-shirts and auto parts in the Daryaganjs of the world. Imagine buying a Joo Rocket jacket or worse a Kwasaki Ninji bike. Its just plain idiotic and a recipe for brand suicide.

An Indian name is not even an option because it instantly sets you back 2 decades in brand perception. The second you use 'Hindustan' in a brand, there is no way you can position yourself as advanced, tech-led, agile and corporate. You will automatically be associated with the good ol' Amby's of the world.

In the end Hero Moto doesn't sound like the greatest, I do admit. However, given the options, trust me when I say it isn't the worst either. Please also understand that the COMPANY NAME is being registered. How they choose to use their BRAND (which is an entirely different thing) is a different story. For example, look how TATA has handled the MANZA. It is no longer 'INDIGO MANZA' but just MANZA. This is because the INDIGO is now associated with taxis and therefore cannot be positioned as aspirational. Similarly, we'll have to wait and see how Hero chooses to address their situation.


Rahul

Rahul while I appreciate that you are making some real & serious posts on this topic which has, so far mostly, seen people having fun at the expense of Hero but please state your points in a way that you don't have to shoot down others.

I understand that this is a crucial point for Hero, they would eventually be known for how they managed after the JV got over.

Also IIRC it was Bajaj who severed ties with Kawasaki back then unlike the case here. I am not sure about TVS-Suzuki

Also as far as branding & consultants are concerned, I remember that one of the Big consultancy firms had advised BAL against the breakup & also that going solo would be disastrous, its quite evident that they were totally wrong.

At the end it would be interesting to see which new products are launched by Hero group & how well they fare in the market.

Hero group in my knowledge have always worked in JVs(Hero Puch, Hero Honda) unlike Bajaj & TVS who have had some experience in creating products on their own. (Bajaj - Last Gen of geared scooters, Auto Rickshaws & TVS - Scooty, earlier mopeds, other engineering products)

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Again Hero group is headed by a family with strong Entrepreneur skills so everyone is expecting them to take the right decisions so that they continue their success journey.

[libranof1987]

Actually, it is going to be Hero MotoCorp Ltd. :

Hero Honda shareholders approve name change to Hero MotoCorp - The Economic Times

I wonder how the badging is going to be. Hero might just go in for complete re-branding. They'll have to change their tag-line too.

[kadanaJ]

Maybe they'll just keep the brand name as just 'Hero'.

Adding a second word to it, will make it seem too similar to the existing 'Hero Honda' brand.

Making it stand alone, makes it stand out.

Hero has a lot of brand value even without the Honda badge. Not as much, mind you, Honda did add a lot of value, but Hero alone should still be enough to remain competitive.

As for the legal name, I like the sound of Hero MotoCorp Ltd.
It sounds clean and professional, something from a company that knows what its doing.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

Hero group in my knowledge have always worked in JVs(Hero Puch, Hero Honda)

Hero Puch was a JV? With whom? I always thought Puch was just a product. Did they (Hero Puch) have any other vehicles?

Originally Posted by kadanaJ

Maybe they'll just keep the brand name as just 'Hero'.

It's going to be very awkward to say Hero CBZ or Hero Karizma!

[rr_zen]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Hero Puch was a JV? With whom? I always thought Puch was just a product. Did they (Hero Puch) have any other vehicles?

Hero Puch was indeed a JV between Hero Motors and Puch of Austria that manufactured motorcycles, mopeds, and bicycles. To the best of my memory, Hero Puch was the only vehicle launched under the brand name.

[Slick]

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

The new bike brand (Hero Moto) is already facing competition from the erstwhile partner. Please refer this Motorbeam Report:
Honda Starts Wooing Hero Honda Dealers

I think it'll work in the long run. I agree with RT13 that its he best possible way ahead for them. Instead of investing in R&D I think they should buy controlling shares in a n existing R&D house. The same way Mahindra did with Engines engineering.

Though from the above news it seems that there's going to be a power struggle and I see Bajaj benefitting immensely from it.

[CARDEEP]

Originally Posted by Slick

I think it'll work in the long run. I agree with RT13 that its he best possible way ahead for them. Instead of investing in R&D I think they should buy controlling shares in a n existing R&D house. The same way Mahindra did with Engines engineering.

Though from the above news it seems that there's going to be a power struggle and I see Bajaj benefitting immensely from it.

that R&D house purchase would be better option... but, how many of these are in India.

Regarding the competitors benefiting, I believe that it would be the consumer who will benefit more because the International players will bring products like R15, CBR250, etc. in India. I guess Honda is the company is to watch out for (as Rahul Bajaj as has mentioned in is interview few days ago), followed by Yamaha & KTM.

[five46]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

It's going to be very awkward to say Hero CBZ or Hero Karizma!

Correct! But, I've never seen people owning these bikes calling it as "Hero Honda CBZ", "Hero Honda Karizma" or "Hero Honda Splendor". These bikes have built such a brand following for themselves that they are called as just the "CBZ", "CBZ Xtreme", "Karizma", etc.

Their newer products will start feeling this identity crisis and Hero MotoCorp Ltd has a herculean task to attend.

[ashwin.terminat]

Agreed. Hero MotoCorp Ltd. sounds like a company which is ready to take it to the next level. The only thing worrisome thing is if they can manage the R & D which Honda used to do on their behalf till date. Catching up with technology with the likes of Bajaj and Yamaha is going to a very difficult task for the company. Worse is the tag of the World's Largest Motorcycle Manufacturer. If they don't come up with quality products over the next few years, they will lose a lot of credibility. No one will trust the company beyond the Splendor I guess. The rebranding and PR programs and the outreach programs will cost a lot too. For the familiar tongues, its hard to say Hero and not accompany it with Honda when speaking in context of Motorcycles. Hope Hero MotoCorp Ltd. can pull their act together and live up to the reputation its taken then a hard 26 years to attain.

[silverado]

If you observe the last few years, there have been very few bike launches from HH stable.

HUNK,CBZ-Xtreme, Karizma ZMR being the only ones which come to my mind in last 5 years ( I hope i have not missed any apart from the ( Under ) Acheiver.

Apart from these we have had several variants of existing products like Passion PRO,etc etc which have been cosmetic jobs at the most.

It took so long for them to come with digital speedos and rear discs.
Still HMoto will continue to rule since it has a huge market share in Rural and semi urban areas.

I guess all will come down to how the company portrays its transition from HH to HMoto.

[CARDEEP]

Hero Honda has officially become Hero Moto, after the nod from ROC for change of name. Here is ACI's report on the same:

Hero MotoCorp is here, bike spied | Autocar India

also in the same article they have reported spy pictures of the dirt bike that Hero Moto is planning to launch & is under going testing.

[fz_rider]

A dirt bike for the starters ! Sounds interesting , as well as ambitious ! But why an off- roader ?

[sajo]

Originally Posted by fz_rider

But why an off- roader ?

Because Pune is a big market for Hero Honda Commuters.

On a more serious note, as long as they keep their core values of hassle free ownership and FE oriented nature, their almost brands-into-themselves bikes like Splendor should continue to see them through.