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Country’s largest two-wheelers manufacturer Hero MotoCorp on Wednesday said it will ramp up its presence in the premium motorcycle segment in the next three-four years. It also targets to be number one player in the category by then.
The company is revamping its premium segment with the launch of three new motorcycles in X series — XPulse 200, XPulse 200T and Xtreme 200S – priced between ₹94,000 and ₹1.05 lakh (all ex-showroom, Delhi).
The XPulse 200T is a tourer motorcycle priced at ₹94,000 and Xtreme 200S is sporty and premium city motorcycle price at ₹98,500, while XPulse 200 is adventure motorcycle priced at ₹97,000 and with fuel injection (FI) option is available at ₹1.05 lakh (all ex-showroom prices).
Last year, Hero had launched Xtreme 200R during the festival season. And, before that it was present in such a category with Karizma ZMR (225cc), but not with significant market share in the domestic market. That is why it had to discontinue the Karizma ZMR in the domestic market and now makes it only for the export markets.
The premium motorcycle segment of over 150 cc engine capacity is pegged at around three-million units a year right now. While Hero is the leading player in the entry level and commuter segments of below 150 cc, it does not have a strong presence in the premium segment.
“We plan to gradually ramp up our presence in the premium segment. It is more of a long-term plan — either to be number one or close to number one in the next three to four years as it cannot be done overnight. We will keep investing to build the brand and we are getting serious about the premium category and will build higher ranges (250cc to 450cc),” Sanjay Bhan, Head — Sales and After Sales, Hero MotoCorp, told reporters here.
Bhan said the company is also preparing dispatches of the new bikes and should be available to customers from this month-end. For that, Hero has also trained and hired up-skilled salespersons at its dealers so that they can explain better to customers.
“That is a need for us today, to evolve with the market…over the next 20 months we will be doing that with some new looks to the showrooms. Out of 914 operated outlets, we have 824 outlets with fully skilled salespersons who have deeper knowledge on the products in this category,” he added.
The newly-launched motorcycles will be competing with the likes of Bajaj Pulsar RS 200 and NS200, TVS Apache RTR200 and KTM Duke 200 and RC200.
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