Hero Honda

About Us

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 company, india. 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 emphasized the motorcycles fuel efficiency helped the company grow at a double-digit pace since inception. Hero honda has three manufacturing facilities based at dharuhera and gurgaon in haryana and at haridwar in uttarakhand. These plants together are capable of churning out 3. 9 million bikes per year. [citation needed] hero hondas has a large sales and service network with over 3,000 dealerships and service points across india. Hero hondas customer loyalty program,[clarification needed] the hero honda passport program, claims to be one of the largest programs of its kind in the world with over 3 million members. The 2006 forbes 200 most respected companies list has hero honda motors ranked at 108. [4] [edit] history india became the second largest two wheeler manufacturer in the world and starting in the 1950s with the automobile products of india (api) that manufactured the lambrettas and bajaj auto ltd. With its association with piaggio of italy (manufacturer of vespa scooters) as the largest manufacturers within the country. [citation needed] the license raj that existed between the 1940s to 1980s in india did not allow foreign companies to enter the market and imports were tightly controlled. This regulatory maze, before the economic liberalization, made business easier for local players to have a sellers market. [neutrality is disputed] customers in india were forced to wait up to 12 years to buy a scooter from bajaj. The ceo of bajaj commented that he did not need a marketing department, only a dispatch department. By the year 1990, bajaj had a waiting list that was twenty-six times its annual output for scooters. [citation needed] the motorcycle segment had the same long wait times with three manufacturers: royal enfield, ideal jawa, and escorts. Royal enfield made a 350cc bullet with the only four-stroke engine at that time and took the higher end of the market but there was little competition for their customers. Ideal jawa and escorts took the middle and lower end of the market respectively. [citation needed] in the mid-1980s, the indian government regulations changed and permitted foreign companies to enter the indian market through minority joint ventures. The two-wheeler market changed with four indo-japanese joint ventures: hero honda, tvs suzuki, bajaj kawasaki and kinetic motor company (kinetic honda). The entry of these foreign companies changed the indian market dynamics from the supply side to the demand side. With a larger selection of two-wheelers on the indian market, consumers started to gain influence over the products they bought and raised higher customer expectations. The industry produced more models, styling options, prices, and different fuel efficiencies. The foreign companies new technologies helped make the products.