Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/487891
INTERVIEW HERO MOTOCORP'S PAWAN MUNJAL P104 In August of 2013 we reached a cumulative mark of 50 million motorcycles and scooters built by Hero down the years, and at the party to celebrate that I announced that what we were cel- ebrating that day was already behind us—the next target is 100-million products. We've already gone a long way down the road towards those 100-mil- lion units, and I believe we will reach that by 2020, which is when we are looking at another landmark. By that year we intend to lift annual production and sales up from the level of 6.3 million units in 2014, to a target of 12 million annual sales by 2020. This is why we are putting in extra production capacity in many places, not only in India. We have an- nounced an investment of $800 million in building capacity across the globe, and plan to have at least 20 assembly plants around the world by 2020. Will you invest in a European factory in order to sell to the European market? Right now as we come into Europe and see how our sales go here, and look at what manufacturing in Europe would entail… I think I will start assembly in some countries, but I'm not yet sure where. Your rivals in India presently include Bajaj Auto linked to KTM, and TVS linked to BMW, setting aside the Japanese manufacturers led by Honda. Do you regard any of these as a potential threat to your dominant position in the Indian domestic market, in a country with 1.2 billion inhabitants enjoying growing prosperity? To my mind India is a huge market, and none of us has really got a hold on its potential, and how to fully exploit it. The penetration levels are very low compared to most other markets in the world. So it's up to us to exploit and to develop that market. And we at Hero do believe that, especially with the lower cost markets. Many years ago we went into the deeper parts of the country, far from any towns, and we started selling there, and began a service operation there with mobile service into those areas. Bringing service of Hero products to people's homes. There are so many different ways like that in which the market can be exploited, in order to become much bigger, and we just have to think of them. Financing in India is still at a very low level, for example—maybe that will be the next big step. But there are plenty of customers for all of us. We just have to find a way of bringing our products to them. I've also heard from Indian friends that you "ABOVE ALL I AM A SPORTS FAN. I PLAY GOLF REGULARLY TO QUITE A HIGH LEVEL, AND I LIKE A LOT OF DIFFERENT SPORTS, AND MOTORSPORTS IS ONE OF THEM."