Hero MotoCorp enters in Argentine market with new global product

Hero MotoCorp has launched operations in Argentina as it seeks to achieve the target of selling in 50 markets by 2020. The launch of operations in its 35th market, Argentina saw the opening of the company's first dealership in Buenos Aires, as also the launch of its first global product overseas.

Hero had taken the wraps off the new generation of its popular 125 cc motorcycle Glamour, which would be marketed as Ignitor for the Latin American markets like Colombia, Peru and Argentina. ''We have a huge focus on South America, as we believe we will get substantial volumes from the region. But even so, in the short term only 10 per cent of our overall sales will come from outside India,'' said Pawan Munjal chairman, MD, and CEO, Hero MotoCorp.

Hero had entered the market with 4 products to start with - the Ignitor (Glamour), Hunk, Hunk Sports and the sole scooter offering - Dash (sold in India as the Maestro Edge).The company had appointed Argentinean partner Marwen SA as its distributor for this market. Marwen also had an existing facility to assemble motorcycles that Hero would use to roll out products in Argentina. The plant based at Villa Rosa in Buenos Aires province had a capacity to churn out 5,000 bikes a year.

Last year, Hero MotoCorp had said it planned to launch 15 new products in domestic as well as international markets. ''We will have 15 new launches across segments in our domestic and global markets this fiscal, out of which three motorcycles will be introduced in the domestic market before the festive season,'' Hero MotoCorp chairman, Munjal had said in a statement.

''The Bangladesh plant, our second manufacturing facility at a global location after Colombia, will begin operations in the fourth quarter of this fiscal,'' he had added.