Hero MotoCorp Launches Six Bikes in Colombia

India's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp today launched six of its best-selling bikes here as part of its target to clock 1.2 million unit sales from global business by 2020.

"Colombia is one of the top two-wheelers market in South America and therefore, it is going to play a significant role as we continue to expand our footprint in the region," Hero MotoCorp Vice Chairman and MD & CEO Pawan Munjal said. "Going forward, we will aim at making Colombia a base for expanding our operations to neighbouring countries in the region," he added.

The two-wheelers rolled out today include the 100 cc bikes -Splendor iSmart, Eco Deluxe, and Passion-Pro; the 125 cc Glamour; the 150 cc Hunk and the 225 cc Karizma ZMR. The bikes will be sold in 120 outlets spread across the country.

In the process of expansion and localisation, the company will generate immense opportunities of direct and indirect employment, thereby contributing to the overall development of the economy of Colombia, Munjal said. The company plans to expand its distribution network to over 150 outlets in a year's time.

Hero MotoCorp is also setting up a manufacturing plant in Colombia. The company plans to launch its operations in Europe by 2015 and in the US by 2016. It also became the first two-wheeler company in Colombia to offer 4-year warranty on all its models.

This July, Hero MotoCorp formed a wholly-owned subsidiary in Colombia and commenced construction of a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in the country. With this, the New Delhi-headquartered Hero MotoCorp will be the first Indian two-wheeler company to have a manufacturing plant in Latin America.

Its 100 per cent subsidiary - HMCL Colombia SAS - has been incorporated in the industrial city of Cali, 300 kms southwest of Bogota. With a project cost of USD 70 million, HMCL will invest USD 38 million in capex, with the rest being utilised as working capital over the next three-year period.

The plant is expected to go on stream by the middle of 2015 with an initial installed capacity of 78,000 units. It is expected to go up to around 1,50,000 units by 2017-18. Expanding aggressively over the past three years, Hero MotoCorp is already present in over 20 countries across Central & South America, East & West Africa and Asia.

By 2020, the company aims to be in over 50 countries with 20 plus assembly facilities globally.