[Gooney]

If I were in charge of Hero MotoCorp., I would be seriously studying what Bajaj did after it severed its ties with Kawasaki. Similar to Bajaj, Hero's split with Honda, is a make or break moment. And going by Bajaj's antecedents there is no reason why Hero cannot be succesful post-break-up, if they are really intent on it.

Also, Hero has Honda's know-how for another 3 years. Should be enough for Hero to revamp and come up with indegineous products. Also, as pointed out, being the largest two-wheeler manifacturer in the world, the odds are on Hero's side.

Hero needs to seriously consider the following for its product portfolio:

1. A 100-150 cc product. Not a facelift Splendor, but a totally new and fresh offering (to take on the Discover).
2. A 250 cc sport bike. USP- cheaper than, say, Honda's CBR250, but with same performance and technology.
3. Gearless scooter to do away with the Activa's monopoly (notice how Honda very smartly had placed the Activa solely under its brand name).
4. A niche cruiser to take on Hyosung. Let's say offering a poor-man's Harley.

Given Hero's revenues, such a product mix should not be difficult to achieve within 5 years.

[figo_mba]

I think there is no argument that Bajaj did better without Kawasaki than with it.
whereas HH was/is the number two wheeler company in India.
Growth of Bajaj was phenomenal after Kawasaki.

Yeah they had some nice bikes though.

So for HMC to be successful they have to scale bigger target mountain than what Bajaj had to scale after its split with kawasaki.

Now whether they do it or not remains to be seen.

[huntrz]

It will be nice to see Hero Moto not dying after Honda left them but the Munjals haven't been as savvy a businessmen as Bajajs. Hero Honda stock was well known for having a very high dividend yield ratio. The companies who donot find anything better to do with the generated cash pay most of it back to the shareholders thereby having high dividend yield. Which means they never had any foresight for this situation as they have been doling out cash back to the shareholders.

Their strength is the dealer network. Only way out for them is to buy out a smaller engine maker having its own R&D with the cash they have and sell their bikes here branded as Hero Moto. Otherwise it will be very painful to see a giant like this slowly fall and die like Kinetic. I don't think anyone would even want to acquire Hero Moto as without honda they are reduced to nothing but plant, machinery and dealer network but no product. I feel they are hugely mistaken if they think they can setup an R&D now by recruiting people and match the expectations of reliability and refinement of honda engines that their customers are used to.

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by Gooney

If I were in charge of Hero MotoCorp., I would be seriously studying what Bajaj did after it severed its ties with Kawasaki. Similar to Bajaj, Hero's split with Honda, is a make or break moment. And going by Bajaj's antecedents there is no reason why Hero cannot be succesful post-break-up, if they are really intent on it.

Originally Posted by figo_mba

I think there is no argument that Bajaj did better without Kawasaki than with it.
whereas HH was/is the number two wheeler company in India.
Growth of Bajaj was phenomenal after Kawasaki.

Originally Posted by huntrz

It will be nice to see Hero Moto not dying after Honda left them but the Munjals haven't been as savvy a businessmen as Bajajs.

I think the biggest difference between the Bajaj-Kawasaki break up & Hero-Honda Breakup is that in case of Bajaj it was them who wanted to be independent of Kawasaki as they wanted to establish themselves as Self Branded Bike Manufactures.

While in case of HH it was Honda who severed their ties with Hero as they have plans to go solo in India.

Historically Hero has been known to make partnership to bring 2-wheelers to India, Hero Puch & the previous Hero mopeds is what comes to my mind. I dont think they ever wanted to create a Bike Brand. They were always interested in creating a Financially beneficial venture(nothing wrong in that) for selling bikes.

So chances are that they will find another company to tie up for engines & other crucial component designs. They do own most of supply chain for the HH components & it would be in their interest to expand their product portfolio.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

So chances are that they will find another company to tie up for engines & other crucial component designs. They do own most of supply chain for the HH components & it would be in their interest to expand their product portfolio.

That is what I think too. Most probably they may take the Taiwan route.

[libranof1987]

How long are bikes such as Karizma etc. supposed to have Hero Honda as the manufacturer rather than just Hero?

Dhoni won a Karizma last night as Man-of-the-Series and I was surprised to find the Karizma sporting Hero Honda stickers in today's newspaper.

Check it out :


Source : India v England: fifth one-day international, in pictures - Telegraph

[figo_mba]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

How long are bikes such as Karizma etc. supposed to have Hero Honda as the manufacturer rather than just Hero?

Dhoni won a Karizma last night as Man-of-the-Series and I was surprised to find the Karizma sporting Hero Honda stickers in today's newspaper.

Check it out :
Attachment 832499

Source : India v England: fifth one-day international, in pictures - Telegraph

Most probable reason for this could be that the parts are already in the bin so why change it.
Also on that was it Hero Honda that sponsored the prize or just Hero moto corp ?

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by figo_mba

Most probable reason for this could be that the parts are already in the bin so why change it.
Also on that was it Hero Honda that sponsored the prize or just Hero moto corp ?

Hero MotoCorp sponsored it.

I don't think "parts are already in the bin so why change it" can be a reason; that can lead to rights infringement.

Unless of course, there have an arrangement wherein the Honda name can be used for a particular duration.

[Sheel]

Perhaps, they can continue with the Honda name up-til '14. But they will change prior to that.

[n_aditya]

Now that Hero and Honda have divorced is there any change in the quality of bikes, attitude of dealers, service centers, quality of servicing, etc?

Thinking of replacing my 11 year old Fiero with an economical commuter for daily office rides but wary of the change that has/may have come about.

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

Now that Hero and Honda have divorced is there any change in the quality of bikes, attitude of dealers, service centers, quality of servicing, etc?

Thinking of replacing my 11 year old Fiero with an economical commuter for daily office rides but wary of the change that has/may have come about.

Which bikes are you considering? I dont think choosing a Hero bike should be any problem, they still sport Honda engines which have been around long enough to get serviced by any independent mechanic if the service center is not good.

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

I think the biggest difference between the Bajaj-Kawasaki break up & Hero-Honda Breakup is that in case of Bajaj it was them who wanted to be independent of Kawasaki as they wanted to establish themselves as Self Branded Bike Manufactures.

Kawasaki was pretty useless as a partner because they were neither interested nor good at making high FE 100 cc bikes where-as Honda was obsessed with small bikes and high FE. For Munjals, Honda was a hen that laid golden eggs for 25 yrs.

Originally Posted by n_aditya

Thinking of replacing my 11 year old Fiero with an economical commuter for daily office rides but wary of the change that has/may have come about.

Existing products (all Honda derived) are all fine and have Honda's rubber stamp on them. If they come out with an all new Indian designed product, then I would wait and watch to see how its doing.

Their last effort was some kind of underbone bike with a briggs engine. Forget the name. Hero Killer?

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

...
While in case of HH it was Honda who severed their ties with Hero as they have plans to go solo in India.

Historically Hero has been known to make partnership to bring 2-wheelers to India, Hero Puch & the previous Hero mopeds is what comes to my mind. I dont think they ever wanted to create a Bike Brand. They were always interested in creating a Financially beneficial venture(nothing wrong in that) for selling bikes.
.

Are you sure about this info of Honda severing the ties?
I understand, one of the main reason was HH wants to brings its own suppliers with reduced cost in spare parts, which was not highly welcomed by Honda. This made HH to look for alternatives and then they started the separation.
Also finally the separation was more of a happy ending to both and not as rivals.

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

Are you sure about this info of Honda severing the ties?
I understand, one of the main reason was HH wants to brings its own suppliers with reduced cost in spare parts, which was not highly welcomed by Honda. This made HH to look for alternatives and then they started the separation.
Also finally the separation was more of a happy ending to both and not as rivals.

Well that's what media reports said

Link 1

Link2

Besides here are a couple of reason that I think support the theory that Honda opted out of the JV

- JV with Hero was a compulsion(back then no company could come in directly without a JV) which is no more applicable as per current rules

- It doesn't make sense for Honda to start its own operations if it was happy with the HH JV

- Why would Honda opt out if Hero can help them reduce costs on Material without compromising quality?

- If they were indeed compromising quality then again it would be Honda who would want a way out not Hero.

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

Well that's what media reports said

Link 1

Link2

Besides here are a couple of reason that I think support the theory that Honda opted out of the JV

- JV with Hero was a compulsion(back then no company could come in directly without a JV) which is no more applicable as per current rules

- It doesn't make sense for Honda to start its own operations if it was happy with the HH JV

- Why would Honda opt out if Hero can help them reduce costs on Material without compromising quality?

- If they were indeed compromising quality then again it would be Honda who would want a way out not Hero.

One of the link is from IE which has given a generic reason and the other one is more of a opinion.
Ok, anyways they are ok for me as long as they are true.

SOurce of my information is a insider one and not from any media.