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Hero Puch to finalise partner for vehicle design soon

Our Bureau

BANGALORE, Feb. 25

HERO Puch, which plans to enter the four-stroke scooter manufacture, hopes to finalise its strategic partner for body design of the vehicle soon. The company has been scouting for a technology partner for quite some time to finalise its plans to launch t wo models of 125 and 150 cc scooters. Hero Puch has already set up a joint venture with Briggs & Stratton, the world's largest engine manufacturer.

Talking to Business Line from Delhi, Mr. Pankaj Munjal, Managing Director, said the scooters were expected to be launched by the last quarter of next year. He said the partner for body design would be firmed up in about two months as it has been in talks with some European companies.

Giving an overview of Hero Puch's plans, Mr. Munjal said Hero Briggs Stratton, the 50:50 joint venture, has the capacity to meet the engine requirements of the scooter proposal as it has the capability to scale up to engine manufacture for four lakh veh icles. Briggs & Stratton is a volume player of ten million engines and the Indian facility is already producing 1.5 lakh engines to meet its range of mopeds, scooterettes and step-through motorcycles.

The company recently launched its latest model `Hero Puch EZ' (pronounced Easy), a 74 cc vehicle with a 4.5 bhp engine, and is looking to South Indian market to expand its volume.

The company hopes to launch about 11 new models in the next three years. This it hopes to achieve after the scooter project takes shape by next year.

Having concentrated so far in the northern and central Indian markets of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Hero Puch has a marginal market share in the southern markets.

On how his company planned to position itself when the two-wheeler market was facing saturation, Mr. Munjal said, ``We are hopeful of making a dent with our aggressive marketing strategy,'' adding that a new product with better profiles of design and fue l efficiency will define a market for itself. Besides, he said, there was always the replacement market.

Apart from EZ, Hero Puch plans to unleash a bevy of models for different segments with competitive prices to take on the nearest competition, TVS.

EZ will be positioned against TVS's Scooty, Mr. Munjal said, adding that a few more models would be introduced for the semi-urban and rural segments.

Turbo Sport, in the 49 and the 65 cc capacity for city driving, Wheeling, a 49 cc recreation-cum-learning vehicle designed specially for children and Shaktiman, in 65 cc and 49 cc options for rural Indian conditions, are the other products the company wi ll be familiarising the southern market with soon.