A day before the 11th Auto Expo kicks off, Hero MotoCorp unveiled three new models for 2012, including a scooter positioned at men.
It will launch the Maestro this month — the second launch after the break-up last year of its 26-year-old partnership with Japanese firm Honda.
In addition, it will be introducing two new bikes this year, the 125cc ‘Ignitor' and the 110cc ‘Passion X Pro', targeted at male customers in the 18-24 years age group. However, the prices of the three new models were not mentioned. In all, Hero MotoCorp plans to bring out seven-eight new products (including model refreshes) this year.
Mr Anil Dua, Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Sales at Hero MotoCorp, said, “The Maestro will be our first scooter for men, as Pleasure has been targeted at women. For the 125cc bike, this is the first time we've bought our 150cc technology to the segment.”
He added that the new models have been developed under a continuing technology and licensing pact with Honda.
Mr Dua said the company expects “sales in thousands” of its on-off road bike ‘Impulse', which was launched in October 2011, the first product launched after it went solo.
“It's a niche market, but we're not looking at small volumes. We will share the numbers in a couple of months,” he said.
Rural market
Hero MotoCorp also said that though sales through finance have reduced after successive interest rates hikes by banks, rural off-take is now at 45 per cent of the total. “We have tied up with Grameen banks and other rural lenders for financing,” Mr Dua said.
The company expects its production capacity to touch 6.5 million units across three plants from 6.1 million by March 2012. It sold over 6 million units in 2011. It is also actively looking at exports with a target of 10 per cent of sales in five years.