Hero Honda launches 2 new variants, the new Glamour and Passion Plus Limited Edition

Hero Honda Motors Ltd on October 25, 2006 has announced the launch of two new variants - the new Glamour and Passion Plus Limited Edition. The new launches were announced on the sidelines of the meeting of the Company's Board of Directors on October 25, 2006 for the financial results for the second quarter 2006-07.

Meanwhile, the Company was the only two-wheeler Company named amongst the top 10 Companies in India by the Asia 200 Leadership Report by the Wall Street Journal Asia, reinforcing the Company's market leadership. Judged on the parameters of reputation, financial soundness, innovation, long-term vision and quality of products and services, the Company has been placed overall 7th in the rankings by the prestigious report.

The Company has recently undertaken a slew of initiatives in various fronts to consolidate its market share, with new product launches, augmenting capacity and innovative consumer campaigns. The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh last week laid the foundation stone of the Company's new manufacturing plant in Haridwar, Uttaranchal. The plant will be operational by the middle of 2007 with an initial capacity of 500,000 units. This will further augment the existing installed capacity of the Company.

Passion Plus is a very important model for the Company with significant sales contribution, next only to Splendor. The new Passion Plus Limited Edition restates its position as the original style bike, and the initiative has been backed by strong communication through a new TVC. Hero Honda Glamour is being refreshed with stylish 5-spoke alloy wheels. Both these new models will further enhance sales growth for the Company in the deluxe segment where it enjoys clear leadership position.

During the quarter, the Company launched CBZ X-treme, which was supported by innovative and high-visibility print and TV campaigns, along with on-ground activation. The pre-launch teasers on television built up the expectation for the new bike, and received a very enthusiastic response from the youth. The Company has witnessed an excellent market response during the festive season for all its models. The Glamour FI, which was launched in June, has exceeded sales expectations. The CBZ X-treme, with its unique combination of design and first time features will help the Company achieve strong growth in the premium segment. This takes the tally of new models launched so far by the Company this fiscal to four. These new models, coupled with the 4 new launches planned during this fiscal will help the Company achieve strong topline growth and aggressively consolidate its market leadership across all segments.

During the quarter, the Company sold 751,967 two-wheelers, including 21,703 scooters.

In Q2, the Company also signed on 2 new brand ambassadors, promising Indian cricketers Irfan Pathan and Suresh Raina to leverage their mass appeal with the Indian youth. These brand ambassadors stand for the brand attributes of the Company - performance, passion, commitment and winning, and the company will actively use their services to promote the brand and the exciting new models yet to be launched in the market. Both Irfan and Raina feature in the Company's ongoing campaign "Heroes for Heroes", as part of which the "Mobike Pe Mobile" initiative has been rolled out for customers.

Source: Equity Bulls

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Extreme caution

By: Shubhabrata Marmar Does the new Hero Honda CBZ X-Treme lighten up our lives?

From the time the tricolour bike was shown at the Auto Expo to the time when it finally breathed its last, the Hero Honda CBZ was an icon. Not only did it polarise opinion, it (re-)introduced us to what a bigger capacity commuter with sporty intent could be like. And now, the CBZ name is back, in X-Treme guise.

The talking point, undoubtedly, is going to be the looks. Hero Honda (and by extension Honda) have finally got alloys on a 150, which could mean the beginning of the end of spoked wheels on their line-ups (hey, one can hope, right?).

The CBZX gets 18-inch Karizma alloys in black as well as identical tyres. But while the blacked out bottom looks contemporary, the styling package is a formal tux, in pink.

The CBZX, unlike its predecessor, looks a bit awkward, especially front-on. It is substantial, mind you and feels it, but you do have to get past the bulging front indicators and the disproportionate pilot lamp. The seat is a cross between a motocrosser�s up to the filler cap type and a sportsbike�s stepped unit, but looks aside, it felt firm and comfortable.

Leading from the rear are the LED tail lamps, which Hero Honda claims are an India first. Not. The Pulsar 180 was on sale first, fair and square. However, it has successfully beaten Bajaj to the split grab rail.

Congratulations to all appropriate parties, I think. And finally, we have non-metallic bright colours on our bikes, hallelujah! The CBZX looks shattering in the flat, almost molten orange. Wonder how good it would have been had it been pretty.

The instrument console is a step forward too. The brushed metal finish looks classy. The large speedo, smaller tacho, fuel gauge and lights are a complete set, it�s clear, easy to read and complete. Among the other details, I love the dinky new brake pedal. It has a little toe guard for my big toe and a smart, all-chrome tab to press down on.

But fortunately, I discovered that my apprehension on the styling front is evened out by the rest of the package. The blacked-out motor (black is the new purple?) looks very much like the Unicorn�s and externally only a couple of the covers have different detailing.

Like the Unicorn, the 149.2cc engine�s bottom and middle bulge like a gravity-afflicted gourmet�s belly. Which, for the CBZX at least, is a great thing.

But once revs rise, I thought the top-end rush was good, but not on par with the CBZX�s brimming over low/mid grunt. And while the Unicorn shares these traits, the CBZX felt significantly more powerful.

While Hero Honda have not tweaked the Achiever-spec motor in basic configuration (bore, stroke, compression are identical), power rises to 14.2 bhp (first 150 to make more than 14 bhp, then), in the process moving the power and torque peaks up the rev range by a bit.

But, while all this was going on, the CBZX has also gained about six kg over the competition. Not that you�d notice it � open the throttle from idle, in as high as third gear, and the CBZX leaps forward like someone poked it in the hind with a fairly pointed stick. This also means easy wheelies, easy overtakes and low-rev, high-economy commuting.

Surprisingly, some of the preview bikes had spongy discs. I�m sure it won�t be the case with the on-sale models, the discs are the usual 240 mm jobs that all our bikes seem to have, so there isn�t any model-specific reason for the sponginess.

The Hero Honda CBZX is quite likeable once you get past the styling. It�s just that the visuals aren�t come-hither, something all of us were expecting thanks to the CBZ badge.

That apart, you have a very competent, torquey motorcycle, built well, with a good brand name on the cover. At Rs 56,500 ex-Delhi, the CBZX is one grand more expensive than the Bajaj Pulsar 150. Can the CBZX directly challenge the market leader? Styling apart, it seems to have the goods.

Source:- BusinessStandard

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2nd coming: Bajaj to ride scooters again

Hamara Bajaj is riding back in time, literally. Come January 2007, Bajaj Auto will step into the domestic scooter market, marking its re-entry into a segment it exited this April.

Bajaj will re-enter with an ungeared model Kristal that's targetted at the college crowd. This will be followed by Blade, a model positioned to attract the new-age male audience.

Bajaj, once the country's largest scooter maker, had discontinued its geared scooter brands this April after ringng dowen curtains on two of the oldest standing brand — Chetak and Super.

It had completely exited the scooter market around June by discontinuing production of its new-age non-geared model Wave.

"The new models have been designed with changing market dynamics and customer preferences in mind. These moels will mark Bajaj's re-entry into a segment where it was once a leader," a company official said.

"The market for non-geared scooters has been on a rise. With these models appealing to both the college-goer and the middle-aged executive, we will be able to target this high-growth market again," the official added.

Kristal and Blade ride on Bajaj's Digital Twin Spark Ignition (DTS-i) technology. The scooter market in India had witnessed an erosion in demand with the tightening of emission norms and a sudden shift in consumer preference towards more macho motorcycles.

This had forced Bajaj Auto to reinvent its product portfolio — which had a large concentration of scooters — and move into predominantly bike manufacturing.


Source:- Times Of India

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Hero group signs up UK's Ultra for electric bikes

Hero Group has struck a deal with British electric vehicle company Ultra Motors to introduce electric vehicles (EV) in the country.

Ultra Motors has signed a technical collaboration-cum-joint marketing deal with Hero Cycles for bringing out electric two-wheelers. Though at a nascent stage, the entry of a large 2-wheeler group like Hero could make the market for e-vehicles a vibrant one.

As a part of the deal, Ultra would provide the EV technology and kit, while Hero Cycles would manufacture the final product which would be launched in January next year.

Hero Cycles, the world’s largest bicycle manufacturer, would be assembling the vehicles in its existing facility at Ludhiana to begin with and is expected to set-up a new facility for the venture thereafter.

The vehicles themselves would be under Hero’s brand with a co branding arrangement wherein they would also sport the tag ‘Ultra Powered’. The USP of EVs revolves around minimal maintenance cost with zero emissions.

According to Vijay Munjal, managing director of Hero Cycles, “We look forward to this constructive partnership with Ultra Motor Company to launch our unique range of Light Electric Vehicles in India. It’s a collaboration of our manufacturing strength with their technology.”

VJ Prakash, managing director of Ultra Motor India, said, “This partnership is only for 2 wheelers and in the future we would be looking to strike similar venture with other partners for three wheelers.”

Giving details of the marketing strategy, Deba Ghoshal, director (marketing) at Ultra Motors said, “Though some of our retail partners could be an existing retailer of cycles, we will be creating a separate retail network for EVs. In the first six months we would be entering north and west India and over the first one year we would be a national player.”

Starting January ‘07 the venture would establish 50-75 exclusive showrooms across 16 cities over a period of one year.

As per the plans the venture will bring out 3 electric vehicles initially with an entry level e-bike which would retail for about Rs 12,000-Rs 15,000. This apart there would be a higher powered e-bike plus and an e-scooter.

The entry level product, which would not require vehicle registration, would be targeted at kids while the ebike plus would be for institutional sales where companies with a delivery fleet would be targeted.

Source:- EconomicTimes

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SAS to take on Bajaj with electric 3-wheele

A home-grown tractor maker from North India SAS Motors is preparing to take on the might of Hamara Bajaj in the three-wheeler market in India, with a little help from across the Great Wall. SAS Motors, which recently took over a state-owned automobile company in China's Shandong province, is planning to drive into India a range of Chinese load-carrying and passenger electric three-wheelers at a price that's less than half of what Bajaj charges today. The vehicles have been prototyped and SAS Motors is in the process of fine-tuning the models before seeking regulatory approvals and hmologation certificates for introducing them. "We will begin seeking approvals for the three-wheelers by year-end and hope to introduce them in by next fiscal," SAS Motors MD Ravindra Kumar told ToI. "The three-wheelers will be available in both cargo and passenger versions. We expect to price it under Rs 40,000 in the Indian market," Kumar said. In comparison, three-wheelers are today priced in the Rs 1.25-1.5 lakh range. The vehicles have been developed by Laiyang SAS Motors, a Chinese company that is now owned by SAS Motors. "These are electric three-wheelers, which will be powered by a rechargeable deep-discharge battery. To bring down costs, we are looking at building a battery manufacturing unit next year," Kumar said. The firm, he said, is in the process of identifying land and has zeroed in on Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh for setting up the plant. SAS Motors sells small Chinese tractors under the Angad brand. SAS had first made headlines when it introduced the country's cheapest tractor a product sourced from China at Rs 99,000. It is today the second Indian tractor maker, after M&M, to set up a base in China.

Source:- TimesOfIndia

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Power play: Bike makers go premium for profit

As margins in the entry-level commuter motorcycle segment shrink, bike makers in India are now riding full-throttle into the premium-end of the market in an effort to perk up the bottomline.

Hero Honda on Monday unveiled its latest offensive in the premium motorcycle segment CBZ X-Treme and announced plans to roll out another model soon to expand its footprint in this segment.

"Though the segment for premium bikes would still account for just 10% of the total six million bikes sold a year , their share is growing fast," says Hero Honda MD Pawan Munjal. "We are targetting this growth segment with our new offerings, which will help us achieve leadership position."

X-Treme is among the eight new models that the firm plans to roll-out this fiscal, a majority of which will include offerings in the deluxe and premium segment of the market.

And rival Bajaj Auto is not far behind. The firm, which has carved a niche for itself in the upper-end segment with the Pulsar variants, is in the process of giving this bike a bigger heart.

It plans to roll out a 220-cc fuel-injected Pulsar by January 2007, and company officials point out that another upgrade on the Pulsar platform is expected soon. And industry buzz says other players in the market, like TVS and Honda Motorcycles, are also attacking this segment will renewed vigour.

"This is a reflection of the changing customer preferences in the market," says an industry analyst.

"Customers are fast embracing 125cc and above bikes as mainstream models today, which is reflected in the declining marketshare for 100cc bikes.

It's also beneficial for manufacturers as the margins in the bigger bikes are higher than the entry-level models, where intense competition in the past had forced companies to cut tags and even suffer losses.

This shift in strategy is also an effort on part of the companies to drive up profits," says Anang Jena of Synovate Moto Research.

The 100cc motorcycle market which accounted for nearly 94% of all motorcycles sold in the country in 2001-02 has skid to 72% of the market in 2005-06. And industry insiders believe this segment will, over the next 2-3 years, end up at under 50% of the total bike market.

This, incidentally, is the second churn for the two-wheeler market in India in the past decade. Geared scooters, which once ruled the market, suddenly fell out of favour with the customer with Hero Honda introducing fuel-efficient bikes.

A sudden shift in customer preference for more macho bikes saw scooters being edged out of the market. Today, the entry-level 100c bikes seem to facing a similar fate with buyers now picking high-powered bikes.

It's this shifting customer preference that Hero Honda and other bike makers plan to capture with its renewed focus on the premium end of the market.

Hero Honda is working on a 250cc Fuel-Injected Karizma Upgrade with water-cooled engine and Hero Honda will launch this bike Feb 2007. Yamaha is working on a 150cc bike which will be launched January 2007 . Tvs will also launch its 180cc Bike somewhere around next fiscal. Honda plans to launch its 250cc CBR in INDIA next year. Looks like 2007 has lots of surprise for Indian Motorcycle Enthusiasts.

Keep your eyes on Riot-Reporter for more HOT news from Indian Auto Industry.

Source:- TimesOfIndia

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CBZ Xtreme .. LAUNCHED

Hero Honda has Launched there new "CBZ" variant called CBZ X-treme. The bike features the same 150cc Hero Honda Achiever Engine with 13.2Bhp power output. It has a TVS Centra look-alike front fairing with fairing mouted indicators, Alloy wheels, Black engine(le Pulsar 180), Yamaha Gladiator look-alike rear taipeice and All new speedo. The bike is priced at Rs 53000 and Rs 56000 ex-showroom.

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CBZ Xtreme .. COMING THIS DIWALI

Many of us will remember the Hero Honda CBZ as probably the bike that was a bit ahead of its times. It had the unmistakable mark of Hero Honda writ all over it — reliable, well made and relatively fuel-efficient.

But it was ahead of its times, as its design, build quality and its poorer fuel efficiency, compared to Hero Honda's hot selling economy model the Splendor, must have all been negative factors as far as prospective buyers of that time were concerned.

Now, after the launch and modest success of the Glamour and Achiever, Hero Honda's acceptance amongst the now burgeoning 150cc segment buyers has definitely improved. With increased buyer expectations in the executive segment of the bike market, both in the engine and build quality parameters, Hero Honda would obviously want to attempt capturing a larger share of this pie.

And so, the CBZ it seems is set for a second coming. After having been a loner at the top and then having been edged out of the market by freshers (then) — like the Bajaj Pulsar, the Honda Unicorn and more recently the TVS Apache — the CBZ will again hit the road.

Market rumour has it that Hero Honda has completely revamped, redesigned and re-engineered the old CBZ, so much so that it just could been renamed too as an all-new bike.

But the CBZ brand has good recall amongst prospective bike buyers in the segment and so Hero Honda seems to have decided to retain this name. As a result, what will soon roll out nationally is the new CBZ Xtreme, a more modern looking and performing 150cc plus segment bike, that sports an all new engine and chassis.

After the original was launched first in 1999, the CBZ was put through a marginal and ineffective cosmetic redesign exercise a couple of years ago. But the CBZ Starstill couldn't help it post more volumes on Hero Honda's sales charts. The new CBZ Xtreme be able to do better than that.

However, Hero Honda will still have to work on the bike buyer's mind space to move away from being identified as only a manufacturer of economy bikes. At least, the company will have a strong brand in CBZ working for it.

The old CBZ is off the company's Web site too, it will be replaced soon by the new model. According to our sources CBZ Xtreme will be on sale this Diwal. Wait for it. Because if u dont U`ll Miss it.

Source:- HinduBusinessLine

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