[anjan_c2007]

At the recent Hero Motors' 2018 annual dealers meet in Dubai, the Chairman Mr Pawan Munjal recounted the split with Honda seven years ago and the foothold his company gained in the two wheeler market ever since, particularly in the commuter segment bikes. Hero is still at the top, sales wise given the numbers in this segment.

The scooter segment, magic sales figures have eluded Hero Motors and so did the premium bike segment sweepstakes. Competition in the scooter segment is quite severe and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter Ltd (HMSI) has topped here , with its Activa (55 % share in the scooter market), outselling the once best-selling, two-wheeler bike, the Hero/Hero Honda Splendour. The Hero Motors present scooter portfolio comprising the Pleasure, Maestro Edge and Duet seem to be no match for the Honda siblings in this segment. The Hero scooter models are being constantly designed and redesigned, but only cosmetically to attract the buyers. Technologically, Hero Motors' scooters do not have any breakthroughs to offer.

And in the premium bike segment (the 200 cc plus segment) Hero does not have any attractions. Their Karizma during the collaboration with Honda, took the segment by storm, but this storm has now withered. They have new offerings named Xtreme 200 R and Xpulse 200, but only time will tell whether these two will be able to face the tough competition from the Japanese brands and other market players and also from Bajaj and KTM.

The link:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...w/64266646.cms

Some serious R & D efforts are needed by Hero Motors to remain relevant. The commuter bike segment buyers are mainly the students and the lower middle class to middle class urban folks and a majority of the rural folk. The brand survives with the brand equity it has gained since 1985, in partnership with Honda as a reliable and economical two-wheeler brand. Nothing much has changed technologically for Hero Motors and the buyers are not very demanding in this segment. But this notion and myth may be dispelled as the days when Bajaj could have huge waiting lists and make a scooter with the same technology for 30-40 years are gone.

The company really needs to wake up to disruptive market forces from start ups as Mr Pawan Munjal apprehends. He has ruled out disruption due to peers, but that may be untrue. It may be caught napping even in the commuter bike segment sooner or later, courtesy its peers and some start ups too.

[revvharder]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Some serious R & D efforts are needed by Hero Motors to remain relevant. The commuter bike segment buyers are mainly the students and the lower middle class to middle class urban folks and a majority of the rural folk. The brand survives with the brand equity it has gained since 1985, in partnership with Honda as a reliable and economical two-wheeler brand. Nothing much has changed technologically for Hero Motors and the buyers are not very demanding in this segment. But this notion and myth may be dispelled as the days when Bajaj could have huge waiting lists and make a scooter with the same technology for 30-40 years are gone.

Well i agree with you on this aspect it is eating sales only due to it's name and the quality has went down and the breakup with Honda has left Hero's quality in depression , last year we also bought a Hero splendor ismart for just nearby errands and the number of issues i have faced and still facing is high they don't even know what solution to a problem will be even the R&D departments are clueless. I am gonna tell what all issues i faced and still facing and are unresolved, these issued were faced within six months of ownership :
1.The bike used to stall in traffic : Resolved, solution: don't know
2. Starter Motor, Gear comp unit : Replaced
3.The battery conked off: Replaced
Issues unresolved:
The bike does not start after it is parked under sun, Answer provided by manager it is a higher cc engine maybe that is why it does not start in one crank but needs three or four crank even the engineers are clueless. Oh my holy lord thanks to Hero it did not get into 600cc region else the bike won't even would have started.

The bike's head sometimes starts making grinding noise as like it does not have any oil they don't have a solution to that too.

The color of grab handles has started fading and i did not even bother to tell them as they won't have any solution to that too.

Within one year the fork seal has bust. what type of quality is really hero providing ? Is it worth the money ? Absolutely No.

As for Hero' SVC
I get my service done from Khanna mayapuri, Delhi and man they scam people the SA did not knew he was fighting a team bhpian, the reason for fight was they change oil on every service yes every 3 months you bring your bike there they will change the oil even when the service manual states oil change on alternate service i.e. every six moths, the running of our bike is approx 500 km per month and this SA changed the Oil every time and the explanation he gave to me was bizarre and was not ready to admit his mistake and according to him my bike had ran enough to get the oil changed and when i asked how did he determines that he did not gave any explanation. The seats in the customer lounge area are less people have to sit on the centre table.

Please whoever is reading don't buy Hero bikes the quality of the vehicles is nothing that used to be 7 - 8 years backs.

And even motorbeam has a news stating that silent recalls are being done for this bike but the manager of service centre says it is false
Here is the link to the news
https://www.motorbeam.com/hero-splen...done-silently/
and people are facing issues All over India.
According to them 23 parts are going to be replaced

[payeng]

Originally Posted by revvharder

Please whoever is reading don't buy Hero bikes the quality of the vehicles is nothing that used to be 7 - 8 years backs

Guess its the "LEARNING CURVE" that every new venture (New Hero R&D in this case) encounters.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by revvharder

Well i agree with you on this aspect it is eating sales only due to it's name and the quality has went down and the breakup with Honda has left Hero's quality in depression

Not just the Splendor. Even the scooters are affected by QC issues as well.
Here is one such silent recall for Hero Scooters.

https://www.motorbeam.com/hero-maest...ffected-scoop/

[revvharder]

Originally Posted by payeng

Guess its the "LEARNING CURVE" that every new venture (New Hero R&D in this case) encounters.

Well I don't think then they should launch new vehicles but test them thoroughly before launching. Well I guess it's not the learning curve but it is the curve where they are being arrogant and this curve will just lead them to leaving the automotive business.

Originally Posted by abhishek46

Not just the Splendor. Even the scooters are affected by QC issues as well.
Here is one such silent recall for Hero Scooters.

Well I for sure know they are producing crappy quality vehicles but I haven't got any call for the recall. And looks like motorbeam is just interested in producing bogus news and getting attention to their website because if it is true, I should have received the call by now.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by revvharder

And looks like motorbeam is just interested in producing bogus news and getting attention to their website because if it is true, I should have received the call by now.

Wouldn't be a silent recall if they start calling costumers, right?

Motorbeam had later clearly clarified on this issue with proof that Hero did sent out a communication to dealers -

https://www.motorbeam.com/hero-denie...here-is-proof/

[revvharder]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Wouldn't be a silent recall if they start calling costumers, right?

Motorbeam had later clearly clarified on this issue with proof that Hero did sent out a communication to dealers -

https://www.motorbeam.com/hero-denie...here-is-proof/

Well does this mean the manager will deny if called about the recall and the manager knows me quite well due to the incident happened before.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by revvharder

Well I for sure know they are producing crappy quality vehicles but I haven't got any call for the recall. And looks like motorbeam is just interested in producing bogus news and getting attention to their website because if it is true, I should have received the call by now.

That's why it is called a Silent Recall!

Here is the proof from Motorbeam side. Sites interested in producing bogus news, generally do not follow up on news items like this, like how MB did.

[revvharder]

Well can any hero customer confirm if parts are being replaced on their scooter or bikes. Mods if possible can we move this to a new thread so that the Hero customers can confirm.
When the vehicles countrywide are affected why they are calling a silent recall and not a open recall.

[navpreet318]

Please call up the Hero MotoCorp Customer Helpline as provided on the Hero MotoCorp website.

1800 266 0018

Give all details and your issues will be taken care of by the company.

[kumarshah]

I am a Hero Dealer. In terms of quality, here are my observations:

Yes, the 2016 (not 2017) Duet and Maestro Edge had crank issues. We had to change the crank on some of the vehicles, there was no recall though. It also did not affect all vehicles sold during that time. Scooters had more quality issues than bikes, but the new Edge/Duet since last year are of much better quality.

I am not sure what bike quality issues are there, we sold approx. 18000 bikes+scooters last FY. The quality of bikes especially 100 and 125cc remains quite good. Of course you can never be "issue-free". At the same time, I have also dealt with customers whose bikes had issues because they couldn't take care of it. One customer told me to my face that you don't need to service bike at all - he changes oil every 3 months himself and that the bike should not have any issues for the warranty period.

But, it would be dishonest to say only Hero has had quality issues. Recently Honda recalled 50,000+ scooters:

https://www.livemint.com/Industry/bq...25-Grazia.html

Honda Activa 5G some models have pickup issues at the moment, that I know because I have seen messages of dealer group and area teams on the same.

From market feedback in our local market, I would say Hero Pleasure has the least technical quality issues at the moment along with probably TVS (although they also had some issues last year).

I don't think the increase in quality issues with Hero is due to their R&D. It is more due to changing of parts suppliers.

[tstlnt]

Originally Posted by kumarshah

I am a Hero Dealer. In terms of quality, here are my observations.

But, it would be dishonest to say only Hero has had quality issues. Recently Honda recalled 50,000+ scooters:

https://www.livemint.com/Industry/bq...25-Grazia.html

I vouch kumarsha's statement. I bought Honda shine , 2 years ago and I suffered a lot with acceleration issue and escalated to the level of their HO. But, nothing could be done other than riding with choke for about a km, every time, especially after a break of 4-5 hours. Not only me, i heard this complaint from good number of customers, I interacted during service calls at service centers. Now, I came out of it and has Super Splendor, that is far better than Shine, especially in terms of engine handling and NVH levels.

[payeng]

Quantity or the lack of it is not the reason for market performance. Had it been true, ROYAL ENFIELD would have been out of business long back.

Issue with Hero is to be able to replicate same success with its non core commuter line up, which is almost near impossible now.. considering there is a plethora of options out there.

even if Hero tries with newer "Premium" offerings, it would really have to give a strong reason to the customer as to why opt for its offering and not the other established brands.

[CARDEEP]

Hero and Bajaj both have stupid strategies regarding product & technology.

Hero is a minimalist in terms of technology and products upgrade and continues to carry on Honda's age old products and more in terms of nomenclature and sticker work. Honda's products were superior to the competing products 20 years back, but now things have moved on in terms of displacement & the power game, whereas Hero has struck to the mileage numbers.

Bajaj on the other hand would dish out products at the drop of a hat & at times also hampered quality. Better products (read Caliber) were dropped at their prime rather than using the platform and the older platforms were revisited time and again in the commuter segment.

But things were quite different in premium segment where Hero bikes lost out due to relatively heavy weight (not reflecting in quality) & lower power (Apache & Pulsar 180 are as powerful as Karizma or the recently launched Xtreme200). Unfortunately that lower power hasn't resulted in higher mileage, courtesy higher weight. Handling isn't spectacular either.

I have owned Hero Honda, Bajaj, TVS & Enfield. I always felt the plastic part quality of Hero was the worst. The Splendor I owned had cracks in the headlight visor, front bumper & battery cover despite having been pampered the most & run the least. I had nastier falls on Bajaj & TVS & much more running per bike.

Unfortunately for me, I was willing to upgrade after a year of ownership and much before 3 years we bought a TVS. Hero & Honda in India are good for commuters, but don't expect more in terms of performance or fun & that's where they are losing in the premium segment.

[kumarshah]

Originally Posted by payeng

Quantity or the lack of it is not the reason for market performance. Had it been true, ROYAL ENFIELD would have been out of business long back.

Issue with Hero is to be able to replicate same success with its non core commuter line up, which is almost near impossible now.. considering there is a plethora of options out there.

even if Hero tries with newer "Premium" offerings, it would really have to give a strong reason to the customer as to why opt for its offering and not the other established brands.

Originally Posted by tstlnt

I vouch kumarsha's statement. I bought Honda shine , 2 years ago and I suffered a lot with acceleration issue and escalated to the level of their HO. But, nothing could be done other than riding with choke for about a km, every time, especially after a break of 4-5 hours. Not only me, i heard this complaint from good number of customers, I interacted during service calls at service centers. Now, I came out of it and has Super Splendor, that is far better than Shine, especially in terms of engine handling and NVH levels.

Overall, we get least complaints in 125cc models especially Super Splendor. I think it's even more reliable than 100cc, maybe due to production volume differences.

Always good to see a satisfied 125cc customer!