Website : http://www.heromotocorp.com/en-in/
Hero Motocorp Ltd., formerly Hero Honda, is an Indian motorcycle and scooter manufacturer based in New Delhi, India. Hero Honda started in 1984 as a joint venture between Hero Cycles of India and Honda of Japan. The company is the largest two wheeler manufacturer in India. The 2006 Forbes 200 Most Respected companies list has Hero Honda Motors ranked at #108.
In 2010, when Honda decided to move out of the joint venture, Hero Group bought the shares held by Honda. Subsequently, in August 2011 the company was renamed Hero MotoCorp with a new corporate identity.
On 4 June 2012,Hero Motocorp approved a proposal to merge the investment arm of its parent Hero Investment Pvt. Ltd. into the automaker. The decision comes after 18 months of its split from Honda Motors.
“Hero” is the brand name used by the Munjal brothers for their flagship company, Hero Cycles Ltd. A joint venture between the Hero Group and Honda Motor Company was established in 1984 as the Hero Honda Motors Limited at Dharuhera, India. Munjal family and Honda group both owned 26% stake in the Company. In 2010, it was reported that Honda planned to sell its stake in the venture to the Munjal family.
During the 1980s, the company introduced motorcycles that were popular in India for their fuel economy and low cost. A popular advertising campaign based on the slogan 'Fill it – Shut it – Forget it' that emphasised the motorcycle's fuel efficiency helped the company grow at a double-digit pace since inception. The technology in the bikes of Hero Honda for almost 26 years (1984–2010) has come from the Japanese counterpart Honda.
Hero MotoCorp has three manufacturing facilities based at Dharuhera, Gurgaon in Haryana and at Haridwar in Uttarakhand. These plants together are capable of churning out 6 million bikes per year. Hero MotoCorp has a large sales and service network with over 3,000 dealerships and service points across India. Hero Honda has a customer loyalty program since 2000, called the Hero Honda Passport Program.
The company has a stated aim of achieving revenues of $10 billion and volumes of 10 million two-wheelers by 2016–17. This in conjunction with new countries where they can now market their two-wheelers following the disengagement from Honda. Hero MotoCorp hopes to achieve 10 per cent of their revenues from international markets, and they expected to launch sales in Nigeria by end-2011 or early-2012. In addition, to cope with the new demand over the coming half decade, the company is coming up with their fourth factory in Neemrana, Rajasthan while their fifth factory is planned to be set up in Gujarat.
- 1956—Formation of Hero Cycles in Ludhiana(majestic auto limited)
- 1975—Hero Cycles becomes largest bicycle manufacturer in India.
- 1983—Joint Collaboration Agreement with Honda Motor Co. Ltd. Japan signed Shareholders Agreement signed
- 1984—Hero Honda Motors Ltd. incorporated
- 1985—Hero Honda motorcycle CD 100 launched.
- 1989—Hero Honda motorcycle Sleek launched.
- 1991—Hero Honda motorcycle CD 100 SS launched.
- 1994 – Hero Honda motorcycle Splendor launched.
- 1997—Hero Honda motorcycle Street launched.
- 1999 – Hero Honda motorcycle CBZ launched.
- 2001 – Hero Honda motorcycle Passion and Hero Honda Joy launched.
- 2002—Hero Honda motorcycle Dawn and Hero Honda motorcycle Ambition launched.
- 2003—Hero Honda motorcycle CD Dawn, Hero Honda motorcycle Splendor plus, Hero Honda motorcycle Passion Plus and Hero Honda motorcycle Karizma launched.
- 2004—Hero Honda motorcycle Ambition 135 and Hero Honda motorcycle CBZ* launched.
- 2005—Hero Motocorp SuperSplendor, Hero Honda motorcycle CD Deluxe, Hero Honda motorcycle Glamour, Hero Honda motorcycle Achiever and Hero Honda Scooter Pleasure.
- 2007—New Models of Hero Honda motorcycle Splendor NXG, New Models of Hero Honda motorcycle CD Deluxe, New Models of Hero Honda motorcycle Passion Plus and Hero Honda motorcycle Hunk launched.
- 2008—New Models of Hero Honda motorcycles Pleasure, CBZ Xtreme, Glamour, Glamour Fi and Hero Honda motorcycle Passion Pro launched.
- 2009—New Models of Hero Honda motorcycle Karizma:Karizma – ZMR and limited edition of Hero Honda motorcycle Hunk launched
- 2010—New Models of Hero Honda motorcycle Splendor Pro and New Hero Honda motorcycle Hunk and New Hero Honda Motorcycle Super Splendor launched.
- 2011—New Models of Hero Honda motorcycles Glamour, Glamour FI, CBZ Xtreme, Karizma launched. New licensing arrangement signed between Hero and Honda. In August Hero and Honda parted company, thus forming Hero MotoCorp and Honda moving out of the Hero Honda joint venture. In November, Hero launched its first ever Off Road Bike Named Hero "Impulse".
- 2012-New Models of Hero Motocorp Maestro the Musculine scooter and Ignitor the young generation bike are launched.
- 2013-Hero MotoCorp unveiled line-up of 15 updated products including Karizma R, ZMR, Xtreme, Pleasure, Splendor Pro, Splendor iSmart, HF Deluxe ECO, Hero Motocorp SuperSplendor, Passion Pro and Xpro, Glamour and Glamour FI etc. It also introduced three new technologies- Engine Immobilizer in new Xtreme, Integrated Braking System (IBS) in new Pleasure and i3S (Idle Stop and Start System) in new Splendor iSmart