[pranavshet]

Back in 1984 when Hero Moto Corp was known as Hero Honda, it disrupted the Indian two-wheeler scene with its ultra fuel-efficient and ultra-reliable motorcycle CD 100. The Indian two-wheeler scene back then was more scooter-dominated.

That motorcycle and its successors ie Splendor & Passion turned out to be the biggest headache for Bajaj Auto. Suddenly Bajaj Auto who was the king of the market started losing market share to Hero Honda. Not only that: It started posting huge losses. The splendor and Passion brands from Hero Honda literally broke the morale of Bajaj Auto back then.

Though Bajaj fought back valiantly with caliber & Boxer, it was just not enough. It required a different type of effort and strategy to bounce back. Bajaj regained its mojo back from the Pulsar and it was well supported by the Discover brand before the introduction and discontinuation saga of various discovers began. Those were costly strategic mistakes of Bajaj. They did try to get back through Brand V but Bajaj again diluted and destroyed that brand as well.

Hero Moto Corp on the other hand has more or less existed, thrived, and survived on one engine platform and its derivatives ie 97.2 cc sloper for Splendor, Passion and HF Brand and 124.7 cc for Glamour and Super splendor brand. None of the other vehicles from their lineup had sustained success.

CBZ introduced in 1999 and Karizma introduced in 2003 were halo products in those times. Hero Honda never bothered to improve the product mechanically except for emission norms. All we got were half-baked ugly sticker jobs. I recently came to know through one of the recent motor inc podcast that to effect a small change in a product it takes 12-18 months. In one of the old interviews, Mr. Munjal also had echoed similar views that for bringing refreshes to market( Sticker jobs) Honda took 18 months and to get a completely new ground-up motorcycle, it would take them 48-60 months. That’s a frustrating thing. I now get logic as to why Hero group pushed for split with Honda rather than staying in JV till 2014. Had they remained in JV with Honda till 2014 they would have become more or less irrelevant by now. Honda would not have shared the tech for new engine platforms with Hero Honda eventually making Munjals to sell their stake to Honda.

Bajaj on the other hand improved the Pulsar on an annual basis. The first gen Pulsar had many product-related issues but Bajaj started addressing them in every iteration. They introduced segment-first features. The quality improved by leaps and bounds. The reliability improved drastically. They updated the OG pulsar platform till 2013. After that, they didn’t improve that particular platform. They started bringing in pulsars on new platforms. They came up with Dominar and KTM & now they have Triumphs as well.

It is true that some of the products may not have done well sales-wise but the R&D department of Bajaj Auto was busy working on new products. They didn’t sit on their laurels. The quality of new-gen pulsars is on par with Japanese if not better. That’s a huge achievement. Mechanically on performance numbers, they are superior to the Japanese.


Hero between 2012 to 2017-18
Hero Moto Corp initially after the split went all out for tech tie-ups. They did not try to build their own R&D pool internally. Once they got their hands burnt after the EBR debacle they understood the importance of in-house R&D capabilities. They inaugurated their world-class R&D center in 2016. So they did not achieve anything substantial in the first 6-7 years after the split.

One more thing: They rested too much on their Splendor, HF brand. They played it too safe. Their ability to read the psychology of a premium customer is very poor. They spent a fortune on Virat Kohli & Tiger Woods. That was an absolute waste. Then they repeated all the things they were used to when with Honda: Sticker jobs dubbed as all-new models. It just didn’t work in the premium segment. Even nowadays entry-level customers are demanding funky and fun-to-ride products.
Hero Honda who had a 25+% market share around the 2003-2007 period in the premium segment was literally wiped out of this segment by 2017.

Bajaj between 2017 to 2017-18
Bajaj became its own enemy. Bajaj had good R&D capabilities. But they did not allow any of their products in the commuter segment to settle down. They did too much of experimentation. That spelt doom for the Brand Discover & promising brand V. They have even diluted pulsar brand to 125cc which in my opinion was not proper. It might have brought them volumes but that aspirational quotient of Brand Pulsar took the hit. They did stupid thing by comparing Dominar with RE in their infamous ad campaign Haathi mat palo.

Current State of Affairs.
Hero from 2018- to Current
Hero was in the doldrums in the period from 2018 to 2022. All they did were refreshes of Splendor and Passion and Glamour. Even in displacement up to 200 cc they are using modified versions of Honda-derived engines. The engine on Xtreme 160 4v is heavily reworked version of the Honda unicorn engine. Xpulse though an exciting product seriously needs an livelier engine.
It only shows they are very much risk averse. The only engines grounds up developed by Hero are 440cc on HD 440X / Mavrick & 210 LC on the new karizma. Their commuter motorcycles ie 110 cc & BS-6 version of the famed 97.2 cc engine are riddled with issues.

Hero has to do a thorough review of the quality of the parts that go in to their engines specifically in their commuter line up. They have to up their quality game big time. I will write another article on this separately. There was a time when Hero Honda was considered as benchmark for quality. That quality is long gone. It is among the worst when it comes to fit & finish and build quality when compared to today’s competition.

Even though the 440 platforms & the new Xtreme 125 r has shown signs of promise, we have to see if the volumes can be sustained consistently.
I feel Hero lost crucial time on R&D front when it was in JV with Honda. Their hands were tied because of Joint venture stipulations. I feel Hero group back then was not as prosperous as what Bajaj / TVS was. Probably they waited a bit more to mint money before they could embark on solo journey.

Bajaj from 2018 to Current.
Bajaj has come a long way as far as quality is concerned. There was a time when people used to complain about bajaj quality. They have consistently upped their game as far as quality is concerned. They have surely surpassed Hero on that front. They are very much on par with TVS, and may be slightly behind the Japanese on the quality front.

Though the new-gen pulsars have not set sales charts on fire, they are easily the best pulsars quality-wise to date. Their engine refinement has improved by leaps and bounds. Bajaj is bearing the fruits of investing in its own R&D in the early 90s, they made mistakes early on but now that the R&D unit is a well-oiled machine. Their development cycle is among the quickest. Probably that was the sole reason why Bajaj attracted KTM & Triumph as partners.

The cat among pigeon: Bajaj’s CNG Motorcycle
Bajaj has been dead serious about this project. If Bajaj is able to deliver a mileage of 70kmpl at half the cost then Hero would be in deep trouble. Hero is not even ready with a counter to this. If Bajaj delivers on quality, performance & reliability front then it has the potential to put Hero under severe pressure. The reason is Hero’s huge dependence upon 97.2 cc engine. Rajiv Bajaj had once said that if overdependence of bajaj on chetak was the root cause of problems it faced, Splendor would be the same for Hero.

Last year everyone had hyped that Honda Shine 100 could dislodge Splendor but it didn’t turn out that way. There was no product differentiation.
But this time Bajaj is using a completely new formula. If executed well, that would send warning bells ringing in Hero Moto corp Board rooms. If Hero Honda had pulled CD 100 on chetak in 1984, maybe in 2024 Bajaj may pull a CNG motorcycle on Splendor.

This is a beginning of new rivalry but in a different form. Exciting times ahead.
Respected members, I would love to know your thoughts on the same. Suggestions & constructive criticism are always welcome.

[utkarshshukla92]

Originally Posted by pranavshet

The cat among pigeon: Bajaj’s CNG Motorcycle
Bajaj has been dead serious about this project. If Bajaj is able to deliver a mileage of 70kmpl at half the cost then Hero would be in deep trouble. Hero is not even ready with a counter to this. If Bajaj delivers on quality, performance & reliability front then it has the potential to put Hero under severe pressure. The reason is Hero’s huge dependence upon 97.2 cc engine.

Long Story Short, Splendor will continue to sell and top the charts, because of the demand and trust from rural India where there are no CNG stations.

[SaurAswale]

Hi Pranav, great topic for a thread. It got me thinking.

Here is my perspective-
I come from a farmer family from a very small village in western ghats (MH). In our extended family (under same roof) we have 10 motorcycles. Out of which 3 are used for daily commute for those working on a job, one is a garage queen most of the time and other take beating on daily basis. Garage queen is the R15- belongs to me and because I live in a city and do not have commute. There is a Hornet160 doing 24-30kms daily.

All others are having the 97.2cc. 4 Splendors, 3 Passions and 1 CD dawn. Apart from 2 which are doing daily commute (45+50kms daily for the Passion Pro). All 6 are working for farming duties. They do more offroad than Dakar. In mud- on broken road or no roads. Carrying 100+ kg bags, 3 or more people, Motors/pumps everything for which bike is not designed for. And on the name of maintenance they get an oil change may be in yrs and tyre change when the owner gets enough money. Still they are working strong, never fails on road unless there is no fuel in it. If anything does breaks, it het replaced or repaired at cheap price if it is critical (Mirrors, indicators sometimes headlights are considered as optional). Some people had tried their hands on Discovers/ Platina and even Honda Shine. But now they are also came back to Splendor or Passion.

The point I want to make is, we can curse Hero as much as we can for their lack of premium offerings. But we can't replace them. We enthusiast are far less in numbers and there is too much competitions in 2.5-4L segment so they will play is safely.
Even Bajaj comes with CNG bike which is as reliable as Hero bikes, they might get sales in the cities, but not in rural India. When the closest CNG station will be 30+kms from home, it doesn't makes sense.

And how can you carry CNG in a bislery Bottle ?

And on the part of quality from Bajaj Motorcycles, Pulsars mainly. I don't know what is situation today but a couple of years back, I had a ride on my Friend's new pulsar (Not sure 160, 150, 180??) . Less than 1000kms on ODO. The noise that engine and chain was making- If I hear same noise from my bike, I will think something is seriously broken and ride it straight to a workshop.

[SithDefender]

Originally Posted by SaurAswale

And how can you carry CNG in a bislery Bottle ?

Lol! Only we Indians can understand this jugaad

[VwRabbit]

As others have mentioned CNG pumps are far and few in between and only in towns to mainly cater to LMV commercial vehicles.Bajaj as a company has always been one to learn the hard way and this is going to be another valuable lesson for them.

[RD410]

Hey Pranav, it was a great read. However, I think people need to understand what is Splendor and how it has no real competition even after 30 years of launch.

• How Hero Honda Splendor was born?

HH came up with CD100 in 1984, which turned out to be a blockbuster hit. But after a couple of years, Hero realised that the feather light Japan / Euro spec 'cradleless backbone' chassis of CD100 has lot of flex under heavy load and is not suitable for Indian use conditions.Thus they sent this data to Honda Japan and Honda came up with a heavy duty double cradle frame made of High Strength Steel which has a thick square section spine. Thus the Splendor was born. CD100 barely weighed 100kgs, whereas Splendor weighs 112 kgs, all that extra weight is of the ultra sturdy frame. Splendor's chassis is so sturdy that you can carry 4 full size adults and it won't flex a bit. That's just the strength part, what also makes Splendor tick is that the chassis is well balanced. It's not top heavy or bottom heavy, front & rear are neatly balanced and Splendor handles like a mature bike.

• What is Splendor's engine?

That 97.2cc slopper engine was derived from Honda Super Cub C100EX, which is arguably the most famous verison of the most famous 2 wheeler in the world. Like all Super Cub engines, the 97.2cc mill was also primarily designed for utility i.e heavy load pulling and climbing steep inclines while remaining as reliable and cheap to run as possible. That engine can run on any type of engine oil, it will run even on the last drop of oil. Unlike other mileage oriented commuters which are breathless post 60 kph, the 97.2 mill has clean and linear power-torque delivery till 80 kph. You can easily hold 70-75 cruising speed on highways, with enough oomph left for overtaking. And due to the heavy chassis, Splendor/Passion feel stable at highway speeds compared to other feather light fuel sippers. Morover, that engine is the only remaining one to still have a cast iron cylinder barrel, hence the bassy exhaust note. So that 97.2cc engine is not just an engine, it is one of the most finest engines we have ever got!

• Are there any other products that share the same USP's of Splendor?

There are only 2 - the TVS XL100 and Bajaj CT110X / 125X. These share the same rugged and utilitarian DNA as Splendor. The CT-X series is originally an African export spec bike with similar 'Square Section' frame as Splendor. Now it has gained good traction in Indian market too. But neither of the two aforementioned products have the clean retro appeal of Splendor.

• Is the bs6 Splendor any good?

The quality has steadily dropped over the years. Hero has made major modifications to the 97.2 mill like addition of fuel injection, bumping up the compression ratio to 10:1, modified the clutch basket and oil pump, added 3 way catalytic converter, etc. 10:1 is very high compression for a small engine like this. And coupled with Hero's infamous bad throttle calibration, the motorcycle has severe stalling issue. And due to the high compression, kick starting it is not a pleasant experience. Also due to the good FE of bs6 version, people don't maintain the minimum 3 liter's of fuel required, resulting in (expensive) fuel pump replacement.

• Does Hero need to worry?

Yes and No. Yes because they have to improve their quality levels ASAP. Be it Splendor or Xpulse, Hero's throttle and engine calibration is still work in progress. For eg, Xpulse 4v is really peppy and fun, but it jumps and jersk heavily in 2nd gear and stalls in slow speeds. It's a pain to ride Xpulse in traffic. Xtreme, Xpulse, XMR are all fun products, but they need to polish them more.

No because Hero's service and third party spare parts network is unmatched. Hero service is relatively better than Bajaj and much better than TVS. You can find Hero genuine spares even in the remotest part of the country. Nobody even comes close to Hero in this aspect.


• Will Bajaj CNG bike disrupt the market?

Maybe, it sure has the potential to. But we'll need to wait and see, as this is Bajaj we are talking about. Even if their product is successful, they may discontinue it for no reason

• Does Bajaj really need to fight it out with Hero, in the commuter space?

Not really. Bajaj is no 1 in exports and they are doing good in the premium segments too. They are churning huge profits YoY. They don't really need to compete in the high volume - low margin commuter space.

4S four stroke, 4S Champion, Boxer, Caliber, BYK 100, CT100, Platina, Discover 112, Discover 100 4S, Discover 100 5S, Discover 100T, 100M, Discover 110, CT110, Platina H gear.... so many 100-110 bikes over the years by Bajaj and not one of them managed to beat Splendor. Such a waste of R&D money it may seem But again, not really, as they're still producing and exporting most of them: )

Originally Posted by SaurAswale

And on the part of quality from Bajaj Motorcycles, Pulsars mainly. I don't know what is situation today but a couple of years back, I had a ride on my Friend's new pulsar (Not sure 160, 150, 180??) . Less than 1000kms on ODO. The noise that engine and chain was making- If I hear same noise from my bike, I will think something is seriously broken and ride it straight to a workshop.

The latest N series N150, N160 & N250 are amazingly smooth, even smoother than Honda. Bajaj has used counter balancer tech even for the 150cc variant, hence the superb refinement. Material quality, fit and finish have also vastly improved. These are the finest products from Bajaj yet.

[pranavshet]

[
• Is the bs6 Splendor any good?

The quality has steadily dropped over the years. Hero has made major modifications to the 97.2 mill like addition of fuel injection, bumping up the compression ratio to 10:1, modified the clutch basket and oil pump, added 3 way catalytic converter, etc. 10:1 is very high compression for a small engine like this. And coupled with Hero's infamous bad throttle calibration, the motorcycle has severe stalling issue. And due to the high compression, kick starting it is not a pleasant experience. Also due to the good FE of bs6 version, people don't maintain the minimum 3 liter's of fuel required, resulting in (expensive) fuel pump replacement.

• Does Hero need to worry?

Yes and No. Yes because they have to improve their quality levels ASAP. Be it Splendor or Xpulse, Hero's throttle and engine calibration is still work in progress. For eg, Xpulse 4v is really peppy and fun, but it jumps and jersk heavily in 2nd gear and stalls in slow speeds. It's a pain to ride Xpulse in traffic. Xtreme, Xpulse, XMR are all fun products, but they need to polish them more.

No because Hero's service and third party spare parts network is unmatched. Hero service is relatively better than Bajaj and much better than TVS. You can find Hero genuine spares even in the remotest part of the country. Nobody even comes close to Hero in this aspect.


• Will Bajaj CNG bike disrupt the market?

Maybe, it sure has the potential to. But we'll need to wait and see, as this is Bajaj we are talking about. Even if their product is successful, they may discontinue it for no reason

• Does Bajaj really need to fight it out with Hero, in the commuter space?

Not really. Bajaj is no 1 in exports and they are doing good in the premium segments too. They are churning huge profits YoY. They don't really need to compete in the high volume - low margin commuter space.

4S four stroke, 4S Champion, Boxer, Caliber, BYK 100, CT100, Platina, Discover 112, Discover 100 4S, Discover 100 5S, Discover 100T, 100M, Discover 110, CT110, Platina H gear.... so many 100-110 bikes over the years by Bajaj and not one of them managed to beat Splendor. Such a waste of R&D money it may seem But again, not really, as they're still producing and exporting most of them: )




The latest N series N150, N160 & N250 are amazingly smooth, even smoother than Honda. Bajaj has used counter balancer tech even for the 150cc variant, hence the superb refinement. Material quality, fit and finish have also vastly improved. These are the finest products from Bajaj yet.[/quote]



Thanks a lot for the appreciation.

The reason I feel this is worrisome trend for Hero because they have not made efforts in developing great engine in commuter segment. They are trying to extract more profit out of the commuters.

In this process, they are bypassing the quality. I think there is a substantial reduction in the quality of components used in hero engines. In my home, right from my childhood till my fathers passed away in 2011 we had 3 Hero Hondas ie CD 100SS, Splendor+ & passion Pro. None of them had any engine-related issues. Even the build quality was great.

It felt as if the vehicle could easily survive for 10+ years.

The new hero commuters are having so many issues in manufacturing itself. The new products are prone to rusting specifically the engine area. Even the quality of plastics used for panels is strictly ok.

Their new BS6 vehicles are having timing chain/gearbox issues. It seems like there is a severe lapse in the Quality control department or it is non-existent.

Just for your perspective, in December 2010 Hero Honda back then had sold 5.01 lakh units Currently in April 2024 it clocked 5.33 lakhs domestic + exports. TVS on the other hand has gone from 1.68 lakhs in December 2010 to 3.8 Lakhs in April 24. TVS currently has a market share of around 18-19%. In 2010 it was around 13%

The market share for Hero has fallen from a peak of 50% to the current 29 to 30% it currently hovers in. That's a very bad fall for a market leader who had entrenched itself in the remotest corner of the country possible.

Honda two-wheelers in 2010 had a market share of 12 % but now have a market share of around 27%.

It can be observed that the volume growth in the market has been captured by TVS & Honda at the expense of Hero.

What are the reasons that had led Hero on such a slippery slope?

These are the questions that have to be asked by analysts to the management but seldom asked.

[karthis91]

I own a Hero Honda Splendor Pro 2011 model. It is a gem of a vehicle. Quality is top notch. Engine is smooth, maintenance is easy. In the recent few years, I keep alternating between my hometown and workplace thanks to work from home option. Hence, the bike remains unused for 2-3 months from time to time. Whenever I start, the bikes springs to life quite quickly and runs without any issues.

I’ve tried some of the newer Splendor Pros from the Hero stable and the poor quality can be felt easily.

A few years back, I was thinking of selling my bike and upgrading. But since then I’ve bought a car for family commute and my desire to upkeep the Splendor has gone up notches.

I hope Hero can go back to those days of high quality commuter bikes!