In a bid to solidify its footing in the growing premium bike sector, Hero MotoCorp has introduced its first motorcycle on the co-developed Harley-Davidson platform, called the Mavrick 440. This will likely be the most expensive model in its lineup. The company's focus has been skewed towards the premium space recently to ride on the premiumisation trend in the industry.
Entry level 100-110cc motorcycles have been at the core of Hero MotoCorp. Until recently, the world’s largest manufacturer of scooters and motorcycles had been struggling in the premium motorcycle market with its limited offering. However, the company decided to shift its gears last year with a strategy involving the highest number of product launches in the current financial year, with a focus on premium segments.
“We are now changing gears,” CEO, Niranjan Gupta said while unveiling the Mavrick 440, which will be the first co-developed model with Harley-Davidson to be sold under the Hero brand. The automaker has launched four new products in the mid-size and premium segments in the last seven months, eyeing higher market share and incremental volume.
With the premium motorcycle market growing at a significantly higher rate than the commuter segment, Hero MotoCorp’s strategy envisages a portfolio of more than half a dozen premium bikes. The recent launches in the premium space include the new Karizma XMR and Harley-Davidson X440. Also, the company opened its premium showrooms under the Premia brand last year and plans to increase that number to 100 by June.
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The Mavrick 440 is based on the Harley-Davidson X440 and has the same engine and main frame but gets different styling, underpinnings and features. When asked about the chances of cannibalisation between the Mavrick 440 and Harley-Davidson X440, Gupta ruled out any such possibilities.
“What we have created is a modern roadster. In the market, we have offerings that are classic and traditional. As newer customers come into this fold, we believe and our market research shows that they need a modern version,” Gupta said.
With Mavrick 440, Hero plans to attract more young consumers looking for a modern model in the roadster segment. “We see that this will disrupt the category and the category is large. There's no way that the cannibalising issue comes up'' he added.
The Harley X440 was launched last year and the bike received 25,000 bookings, following which the company increased prices and ramped up the production capacity of X440 to 6,000 units per month from the initial capacity of 2,000 units per month.
By March, the company targets a production capacity of 10,000 units per month between X440 and Karizma. The capacity will be augmented going forward. “The sales are now a function of capacity because we have bookings which are running as an advance order book. That’s our initial aim, to get it to 10,000 units per month. Thereafter we will scale it further depending on the demand,” Gupta said.
Hero MotoCorp will start taking bookings for Mavrick 440 in February and looks to commence deliveries in April. Gupta noted that pricing will not be the primary selling point or the strategy in the premium segment. Over 75 percent sales of Hero’s premium models are from the top variant.
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