Eyeing bumper festive sales, Hero MotoCorp looks to maintain leadership in 2-wheeler segment

New Delhi, Sep 21 (PTI) Hero MotoCorp expects the ongoing festival season to be "one of the best" in terms of sales, helping it maintain leadership position in the domestic two-wheeler segment this year as well, according to a senior company executive.

The country's largest two-wheeler maker, which recently crossed 125 million unit production milestone, expects the GST rate cut on two-wheelers to boost demand and compensate for the loss of sales in the period leading up to the major tax reform.

"Its probably the best macro environment that we've had in a long, long time, and it should fructify in much better numbers than the industry anticipated earlier," Hero MotoCorp Chief Business Officer Ashutosh Varma told PTI in an interaction.

The industry for the first five months was largely flat, and hence, expectations prior to GST rationalisation were a little muted, he added.

"There has been some deferment of purchase that should largely manifest during the Navratri period. But we have a strong booking pipeline... It's an exciting time to be in. I think it (festive period) should be one of the best that we've had," Varma noted.

Elaborating further, he stated that even without the GST reforms, the company was expecting to grow better than the industry on the back of existing products and upcoming new launches.

"Now, I guess it's a double benefit. We have a slew of new products that are there. I mean, 12 products of ours, which will see the festive season for the first time, the overall positive macro, we should grow ahead of the industry," Varma said.

Asked about retaining leadership in the domestic two-wheeler industry, he stated, "We are clear leaders. As per the Vahan data till August, we are ahead in the first five months itself by almost two lakh units. And I mean, we've never lost leadership that way.

"And we are confident that with what's going to pan out going forward, this gap will only widen, and we will close the year strong, clearly as leaders again for 2025," Varma added.

Hero MotoCorp retailed a total of 54,45,251 units in FY25 to lead the two-wheeler space. Rival Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India took second spot with sales of 47,89,283 units.

Varma said the company is looking at growing its core 100 cc segment, expanding in the 125 cc space and scooters while bolstering play in the premium vertical.

"The focus remains on all four segments with different actions required for each," he said.

Varma said plans were afoot to expand EV product range availability across the country.

The partnership with Harley-Davidson is ongoing with new products being developed and the number of premium sales outlets (Premia stores) being scaled up across the country, he added. PTI MSS TRB