[SmartCat]

- Will setup India's largest two-wheeler R&D center in Jaipur. Work is underway.
- Initial investment of Rs. 400 crores, built over an area of 250 acres and will have a workforce of 500 employees.
- Will be operational in second quarter of FY14
- Will include design/simulation studio & infrastructure for component & complete vehicle testing (including test tracks).
- Hiring of engineers & designers already underway.
- Engineers & designers undergoing training under Eric Buell Racing (USA)
- AVL of Austria will help develop engines of various sizes & power output.
- Open to striking alliances if required to shore up R&D efforts.

Source: Annual Report

And since Honda is out, Hero can start exporting their bikes to other countries. In the last financial year, they exported 160,000 units to mostly Sri Lanka & Bangladesh. But they are eyeing the Latin American & African markets (like Bajaj Auto).

[mTorque]

Long pending, long term plans! Hero guys will be looking out for any major bike manufacturer going bankrupt for a bargain buy and fuelling inorganic growth. Good move Hero!

[DukeNukem]

Originally Posted by smartcat

- Will setup India's largest two-wheeler R&D center in Jaipur. Work is underway.

Source: Annual Report

Hi, can you post the source link or document link please?

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by DukeNukem

Hi, can you post the source link or document link please?

Annual reports are always available on the respective company websites

Mahindra & Mahindra

Click on 2011-12 tab

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Mahindra & Mahindra

Thats an M&M link, arent we talking Hero Motors plan here , or am i missing something.

BTW they are already late by a few years, they did not use the initial JV with Honda well. Honda got an entry into India and Hero just used their R&D without investing in one of their own. If they would have done that years ago, then they could have had everything done indigenous and not depend on others outside India.

The whole rationale of JV is to learn from each other, Hero only used it to get cash registers rolling and did not learn much (at-least in R&D space).

[SmartCat]

Not sure, but I think Hero Motocorp still has access to Honda technology for a few more years. Without that, Hero wouldn't have allowed Honda to get out of the JV. Hero still has plenty of time on their hands.

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Thats an M&M link, arent we talking Hero Motors plan here , or am i missing something.

Whoops! hehe!

[Bazinga]

I guess the new R&D department would focus on the following items:
1. Creating new sticker designs to cover the honda logos and styling for their new launches (Read: Ignitor / Stunner scam)
2. How to sell dated bike models with no innovations with newer advert campaigns with saucier stars well into next century (Splendor / Passion / Karizma)
3. To make up names that successfully supress male harmones (Passion / Splendor / Karizma as compared to Pulsar / Avenger / Duke / Apache).

p.s. Take no offense. I don't like Hero motocorp's strategy.
p.p.s I need more bikes like Impulse (dont like the name again) from Hero to impress me (and the general bike lovers, not the commuters).

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Bazinga

I guess the new R&D department would focus on the following items:
1. Creating new sticker designs to cover the honda logos and styling for their new launches (Read: Ignitor / Stunner scam)
2. How to sell dated bike models with no innovations with newer advert campaigns with saucier stars well into next century (Splendor / Passion / Karizma)
3. To make up names that successfully supress male harmones (Passion / Splendor / Karizma as compared to Pulsar / Avenger / Duke / Apache).

p.s. Take no offense. I don't like Hero motocorp's strategy.
p.p.s I need more bikes like Impulse (dont like the name again) from Hero to impress me (and the general bike lovers, not the commuters).

And although they have a wide sales and service network - the attitude is- 'take it or leave it, we have other customers anyway'.