Country’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp said that the company is increasing its portfolio over the next 18-24 months to gain market share, including the 125cc motorcycles which has come down to around nine per cent last quarter from 13-15 per cent in earlier quarters.

“On the 125cc, we have actually made good progress with Glamour XTEC...it has added to confidence in the market. It has a tremendous amount of acceptability ... we are strengthening our 125cc portfolio as we go forward. The Super Splendor will be coming in with XTEC and will be a positive fill up to the entire portfolio. It’s also the time for marriages and we see a great outlook,” Ranjivit Singh, Chief Growth Officer, Hero MotoCorp said at an earnings call on Wednesday.

Going forward the company will be launching a couple of models in FY2024. The premiumisation trend is coming in quite strongly in Hero’s overall portfolio and XTEC contributes to over 30 per cent in the overall portfolio, he said, adding that it is helping the company consolidate and helping strengthening the market share in the core markets.

As per latest monthly data by Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), Hero MotoCorp’s market share has fallen down to 29.30 per cent in January as compared to 31 per cent in January 2022.

“In the quarter, we have done inventory adjustments also,” and that amounts to the underline performance of the segment, Niranjan Gupta, Chief Financial Officer, Hero MotoCorp said.

Talking about electric vehicle plans, both the senior executives said that the company is going as planned and new products will be launched accordingly, and also expansion in new markets.

The company on Tuesday, reported a 2.41 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit at ₹721 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2022 as compared with ₹704 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Revenue from operations stood at ₹8,118 crore as against ₹8,013 crore in October-December quarter 2021.

Total expenses were at ₹7,373 crore, higher than ₹7,217 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal, Hero MotoCorp had said.

Meanwhile, shares of Hero MotoCorp settled over one per cent lower on Wednesday after the company’s December quarter results failed to cheer investors. The stock fell 1.51 per cent to end at 2,613.65 apiece on the BSE.

On the NSE also, it declined 1.37 per cent to settle at ₹2,616.35 per scrip.