Hero Motocorp to invest Rs 2,575 crore for capacity expansion and R&D centre

India’s largest two wheeler company Hero Motocorp announced on Monday that,  it is going to invest Rs. 2,575 crore to set up a full fledge R&D centre and for capacity expansion. The company will invest Rs. 400 crore to set up full fledge R&D centre in Kukas at Rajasthan, Rs. 2,000 crore to set up 4^th plant in Rajasthan, 5^th plant in Gujarat and capacity expansion at Dharuhera, Gurgaon and Haridwar plants. The other investments will account for Rs. 175 crore.

The current capacity expansion at the cost of Rs. 500 crore will give company an annual capacity of 7 million units across the three plants. The fourth plant at Rajasthan will attract an investment of Rs. 400 crore and will have an annual installed capacity of 0.75 million units. The plant is expected to commission by first quarter of financial year 2013-14. The fifth plant in Gujarat will attract an investment of Rs. 1,100 crore and will have an installed capacity of 1.2 million units. The plant is expected to commission by second quarter of financial year 2013-14.

The company will have a combined installed capacity of 9 million units once the fourth and fifth plant gets operational. The new R&D centre will come at Kukas, near Jaipur in Rajasthan, it will spread across 250 acres and will also have a test track. The new R&D centre will have strong workforce of 500 people.

It seems like Hero Motocorp will leave no stone unturned to achieve its ambitious target of 10 million units by 2016. The company also stated that it will launch its first motorcycle based upon its indigenous technology by 2014. This capacity expansion will create headache for HMSI (Honda Motorcycles and India ltd.) which aims to become number 1 in India by 2020.

Honda vs Bajaj: Honda leads in May 2012 sales

From the month of March, the war of second spot in Domestic two wheeler market has begun between Bajaj and Honda. Honda displaced Bajaj in the month of March and Bajaj displaced Honda in the month of April. For the month of May again Honda has displaced Bajaj Auto from the second spot. Although we do not have exact figure of domestic sales, some brokerage research houses claimed that HMSI has regained its second position.

Bajaj Auto has sold 3,21,922 units in the month of May 2012 compared to 3,17,989 units in the month of May 2011, thereby registering growth of 1.21%. The figure of 3,21,922 units is including export. It means that the company has sold around 1,90,000 to 2,00,000 motorcycles in the domestic market in the month of  May 2012. HMSI has sold 2,21,540 units (including export) of two wheelers in May 2012 up by 52.02% compared to 1,45,729 units in the May 2011. The company has sold in access of 2,10,000 units in the  domestic market in the month of May 2012. As always HMSI major growth is coming from the increased sales of Activa. The company has sold 1,26,033 units of scooter in May 2012 up by 65.31% compared to 76,241 units in the month of May 2011.

Bajaj Vs Honda in 2012

As expected Honda and Bajaj has neck to neck competition for the rest of the year also. From this month HMSI has Dream Yuga and Bajaj Auto has new Pulsar 200NS andDiscover 125 ST

DSK Plans to Setup a Manufacturing Plant for Hyosung Bikes

DSK Head, Shirish Kulkarni answering media questions

After an official confirmation about DSK Group taking over Garware Motor’s share in the venture with Hyosung Korea there was a planned Question and Answers session which revealed a lot of interesting bits about DSK and the way they plan to go forward. Read on for a quick round of important points from the session.

Question & Answers Round:

1. DSK did not disclose the amount at which they bought Garware’s stake.
2. On a question that whether Garware Motors was a loss making unit, DSK Shirish Kulkarni said that Garware had their own reasons of moving on and had they continued they would have made profits, on a larger scale.
3. Everything including the assembly plant at Wai, all the dealerships as well as the manpower now goes to DSK.
4. Wai plant is 10,000 sq feet in size and currently bikes in CKD (Completely knocked down) forms get assembled there.
5. Wai plant is capable of doing 8-10 bikes per shift of 8 hours per day.
6. On a question whether this continuous change of partners from Kinetic to Garware to DSK create confusions and hesitation in a buyer, Shirish promised to make this venture work and as long as they can.
7. Hyosung managed to sell 611 bikes in the last fiscal year (which was the first year of operations for the company) and in a market of 2500-3000 annual sales, this is a sizeable chunk.
8. DSK has plans to infuse Rs 300 crores in this business.
9. DSK would also want to take the Hyosung brand to tier 2 cities and plans to increase dealerships to 35-40.
10. Shirish also mentioned that the company plans to setup a proper manufacturing plant to increase localization and bring down the costs of all the Hyosung motorcycles sold in India.
11. This one would be a proper manufacturing plant (and not an assembly plant) where DSK plans to take the localization levels to 90%
12. Shirish also clearly hinted that he prefers having this setup in Maharashtra but the current political clout is not looking favorable. He also stated that talks have been initiated with other states like Gujarat and a decision would be taken soon.

Hero Motocorp launches Ignitor: Priced at Rs. 55,900 ex-showroom Delhi

Finally, Hero Motocorp has launched its Ignitor motorcycle. The company has launched this motorcycle in two variants, the Drum brake variant will cost Rs. 55,900 ex-showroom Delhi while the Disc brake variant will cost Rs. 57,900 ex-showroom Delhi.  The company will soon launch this motorcycle across the country. This is the second new product from Hero Motocorp after the launch of Maestro scooter. Earlier the company unveiled three new products in the Auto Expo 2012 out of which Passion Xpro is still to be launched.

Hero Ignitor is nothing but rebadged version of Honda CBF Stunner. However, there are certain changes made by the company. Hero Ignitor will generate maximum power of 11 bhp at 8,000 rpm and maximum torque of 11 Nm at 5,000 rpm. The maximum torque will peak at 1,500 rpm lower compared to Honda CBF Stunner. It means better fuel efficiency and you can accelerate the vehicle quickly. Apart from this you get an advance digital speedometer and color choices compared to Honda CBF Stunner.  Ignitor is available in four colors, Vibrant Blue, Sports Red, Pearl White and Panther Black.

Price: Hero Ignitor vs CBF Stunner

As far as price is concerned there is not much difference between Hero Ignitor and Honda CBF Stunner. Honda CBF Stunner has been priced Rs. 56,054 ex-showroom Delhi for drum brake version. Honda CBF Stunner is also available with fuel injection apart from carburetor version. It is interesting to see how Ignitor will compete against the Honda CBF Stunner. This is the second rebadged product after Hero Impulse (Honda NXR 150Bros). However, this time the story is different. Honda CBF Stunner is already available in the Indian market so people will easily identify that Hero Ignitor is rebadged version of the same.

Confirmed: Hyosung GT250R Launching on 13th June

Click on the image to go to GT250R's review

There were talks of this bike coming to India in March, later on it slipped a month or two and now after a few days of delay, GT250R would be getting launched on 13^th of June. This was confirmed by DSK officials during the unveiling of DSK’s foray into the two-wheeler segment and its partnership with Hyosung replacing Garware Motors.

• GT250R was initially planned to be launched on 7^th of June but possibly due to this internal change of guards and partners the official unveiling was shifted by 1 week.
• GT250R is Hyosung’s smallest bike in India and possibly the most awaited one from their stables as well.
• GT250R would compete with Honda CBR250R and Kawasaki Ninja 250R in the 250cc segment in India.
• Though there is no official disclosure of its price but the bike is expected to come around the Rs 2.5 lakhs region until DSK plans to pull up a surprise (we expect!).
• GT250R would be brought in CKD (Completely Knocked Down) units and assembled at company’s Wai plant.
• At a later stage, DSK plans to create a proper manufacturing plant and increase localization in turn causing the effective prices of all its motorcycles to go down to become more competitive in the market.

On invitation by the company we, BikeAdvice, have already tested the GT250R and you can read our comprehensive review of the bike along with a whole lot of pictureshere.

Official: DSK Group Enters Superbike Market, To partner with Hyosung, Replaces Garware

We had talked about this a few days back that Garware motors is exiting the venture with Korean S&T Motors which makes motorcycles under the brand name of Hyosung and the new partner might be Maharashtra’s real estate giant DSK group. Today, in a press conference conducted in Pune, DSK made this announcement official.

Here are the important pointers of the press meet:

• The new company from DSK group would be called as DSK Motowheels Pvt Ltd.
• DSK group is one of the Maharashtra’s biggest business conglomerate with a turnover of over Rs 4000cr and spans across various sectors.
• This is the first time DSK would be entering the two-wheeler market.
• DSK Motowheels would be replacing erstwhile partners of Hyosung, Garware Motors to become the exclusive distributors of Hyosung branded motorcycles in India.
• The venture between Hyosung and DSK would be called as DSK Hyosung and the logo of the new entity is attached above.
• After this partnership, DSK Motowheels would take over Garware’s manufacturing facility in Wai in Maharashtra.
• The current 18 dealerships of erstwhile Garware would also get transferred to the new owner DSK Motowheels.

About DSK Group:

DSK group was established in 1980 and has a varied list of diversification on areas they operate in. It has a turnover of Rs 4000 crores.  Its business spans across sectors like construction, real estate, automobiles, digital products, education, investments, pharmacy, travel and leisure, hospitality and infrastructure.

We, mostly know DSK for its dealership network tieup with Toyota which started in 2000 and currently spans across 9 dealerships Maharashtra. DSK also have exclusive dealerships of HINO commercial vehicles in Maharashtra. DSK is known for its quality service and renowned customer facing experiences.

About Shirish D. Kulkarni, Director – DSK Group

Shirish Kulkarni, Director DSK Group

The event was presided over by the director of DSK group, Mr. Shirish D. Kulkarni. Shirish, is a commerce graduate from Symbiosis College, Pune and has done his post graduate diploma in Business Strategy, Finance, Organizational Development Skills and Banking from Unitec University, New Zealand.

Shirish Kulkarni is also the Dealer Principal for DSK Toyota which has 9 showrooms and 6 ultramodern workshops in Maharashtra. Toyota’s commercial brand HINO is also under the dealership of DSK which happens to be the biggest one all across the West Zone for Hino. Shirish also plays an active role in running a soccer club and has keen intrest in football and motor racing. Mr. Kulkarni has also helped the Tsunami victims and also takes interest in welfare of animals.

Pulsar 200NS: Bajaj Auto plays value for money trump card

When Bajaj Auto first revealed Pulsar 200NS on 30^th January 2012, everyone had only two questions in mind “Price and Availability”.  Bajaj Auto smartly answered that by pricing the motorcycle below Rs. 1 lakh and launching it in a phased manner. This statement created doubt in many minds including me that, the price is ex-showroom or on-road? But all the confusion has been cleared now as, Bajaj Auto has finally announced the price of Pulsar 200NS. Pulsar 200NS has been priced at Rs. 85,000 Ex-showroom Delhi.  The on road price of around Rs. 94,000 is below Rs. 1 lakh mark.

By announcing the price of Pulsar200NS, Bajaj Auto has let the cat out of the bag. No doubt that Pulsar 200NS is the hottest launch of 2012 and every Indian bike enthusiast has waited for its official launch.  But with the ex-showroom price of Rs. 85,000, Bajaj Auto has played its VFM (value for money) trump card.  The price of Pulsar 200NS has undercut many performance motorcycles available in the country by hefty margin.  For example, Yamaha R15 V2.0 cost Rs. 25,000 more while Honda CBR150R and KTM Duke 200 cost Rs. 35,000 more than the new Pulsar 200NS.

What you get in the ex-showroom price of Rs. 85,000?

-      A motorcycle which has been designed by Mr. Edgar Heinrich, the person who was previously designing BMW motorcycles. He is a much respected name in motorcycle design world, his works include designing of BMW S1000RR & BMW R1200GS motorcycles.

-   It is known fact that Pulsar 200NS is heavily based upon the KTM Duke 200engine platform. The lower cylinder head and underbelly exhaust are the same which is seen on the KTM Duke.  Both motorcycles have the same bore x stroke of 72 x 49.

-    It comes with Pressed Steel Perimeter frame.  Perimeter frame is known for its better handling. There is a global trend to use Aluminum Perimeter frame in high displacement super sports motorcycles (Aluminum is used to reduce weight in high displacement motorcycles, for lower displacement motorcycle pressed steel make much more sense due to its lower cost and ease of manufacturing advantage).

-   It comes with liquid cooled engine. There are only few motorcycles in the country which comes with liquid cooling system.  If I am not missing anything all other motorcycles which comes with liquid cooled engine are costlier than Pulsar 200NS.

-    It comes with triple spark technology. Triple spark technology is a next big leap in terms of motorcycling engine technology. Bajaj Auto is the first motorcycle manufacturer to introduce this technology across the world. Triple spark technology provides even better combustion compared to twin spark which results in higher fuel efficiency and better power output.  Pulsar 200NS engine is capable of producing23.17 bhp of power and torque of 18.3 Nm. Bajaj claims fuel efficiency of 58 Km/l at the speed of 50 (Honda CRF250L claims 44.3 km/l at the speed of 60).  You can get overall fuel efficiency of 40-45 Km/l depending on your riding style.

-    On the top of these features, you get dual disc brakes, monocross suspension and six speed transmission.

The success of Pulsar 200NS is very critical to Bajaj Auto’s aim to become outstanding motorcycle manufacturer across the world. Even Kawasaki and KTM agree that Pulsar 200NS is a global product and it can go to any market. Bajaj Auto has even done a pilot study for customer feedback. Based upon the feedback, the final production version has got some changes in the suspension settings, headlight vision and few minor changes to improve fit and finish of the motorcycle (may be a reason for delayed launch).

Not to say more but this is the best VFM (value for money) package available in the country as of date. We always criticized Pulsar for selling at highest margin but are other manufacturers providing these features at the cost of Pulsar 200NS? There are some features which we still want to have on Pulsar200NS like full fairing and fuel injection. Bajaj Auto has intended that it will launch full faired variant of Pulsar 200NS in the near future; however for fuel injection we may need to wait for next bigger Pulsar.

At the price of Rs. 85,000 Pulsar 200NS will surely rule the upper performance segment and it is interesting to see how competition will take this challenge.