As the two-wheeler market sees intense competition focusing on premiumisation and electrification, India’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp is redefining the company to defend its No.1 position and expand its business.
“We are surging ahead, driven by our 4S mantra of Speed, Scale, Synergy, and Simplification,” Hero MotoCorp Chief Executive Officer Niranjan Gupta said in the company’s annual report. “This isn’t simply growth; it’s a transformation—one that will redefine our company and set a new standard for our industry.”
Buoyed by the record number of new launches and increasing focus on premium products and store experience, Hero MotoCorp reported its highest revenue and profit during the financial year 2024. The automaker clocked a net profit of Rs 3,968 crore with 36% on-year growth while its revenue from operations rose 11% to Rs 37,456 crore.
The market witnessed eight new product launches from Hero MotoCorp last year. The four products were in the premium category, addressing the gaps. The company, which has its core strength in the entry-level, or 100-110 cc segment, recently shifted gears to improve its market share in the 125cc and premium segments.
To improve the premium experience at its stores, Hero MotoCorp has been upgrading its stores to Hero 2.0 stores and opened Premia outlets. The company noted that it has upgraded more than 400 stores in less than 400 days while expanding the availability of its electric scooter VIDA to 100 cities and setting up the highest number of charging stations with 2000 charging points across 100 cities.
“Embracing speed is crucial as we navigate rapidly changing global and consumer trends. We are now focussing on further reducing the time our products take to roll out and enhancing speed by decentralising decision-making to the point where the actions reside,” Gupta said.
Being the largest two-wheeler maker in India, Hero MotoCorp has an advantage of scale in terms of customer base, distribution points and supply chain. The company is looking to scale up its electric vehicle, and accessories and merchandise businesses.
Hero MotoCorp plans to expand its Vida electric scooter portfolio to four models in this financial year, including one business-to-business product for last mile connectivity business. In addition, the company plans a portfolio of six electric motorcycles under the Vida range and another four motorcycles under its alliance with Zero Motors starting from 2025-2026.
The automaker is also investing Rs 600 crore over the next two years to set up a Global Parts Centre in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, with a storage capacity of up to 36,700 SKUs. Currently, it has one Global Parts Center located in Neemrana, Rajasthan, with a storage capacity of up to 26,000 SKUs and the capacity is fully utilized.
“Leveraging this scale is key to success in everything that we do. We are adopting this scale Mantra in every decision we make; our strategy is to put our might behind products and projects that can be scaled up faster,” he noted.
Hero MotoCorp is using its distribution networks across the country to drive the presence of its electric vehicle brand Vida. Centers of Excellence and a Business Unit structure have been set up with the company to make use of the full potential.
The company is also working together with Harley-Davidson to improve its strength in the premium motorcycle brand and Zero Motorcycles to develop premium electric motorcycles. It is also working with Ather Energy to set up electric vehicle charging stations.
“We believe that there is immense untapped potential in our ecosystem. As such, a deeper collaboration with ecosystem partners-vendors, dealers, design partners, and joint venture partners-will help us achieve a bigger impact,” Gupta said.
“Through the power of simplification and automation, in some of our processes, we have cut down on time by almost 90%. The power of simplification is largely untapped in our industry, and we are determined to lead the way,” he added.
Read More: Hero MotoCorp plans over a dozen EVs, Vida motorcycle range
Read More: Hero MotoCorp aims to outpace market growth, improve share in premium, 125cc segments
