Hero MotoCorp has become the 2nd legacy two-wheeler maker to confirm its concrete plans to launch an electric motorcycle. This comes with comments in its second-quarter earnings conference call. The company already has presence in electric two-wheeler space with Vida, its electric scooter, and is looking to meaningfully build its electric two-wheeler portfolio.
This comes after Royal Enfield maker Eicher Motors launched the ‘Flying Flea’ brand AT EICMA 2024. It introduced its new EV brand, Flying Flea powered by Royal Enfield, and two new electric motorcycles, the Classic-styled Flying Flea C6 and Scrambler-styled Flying Flea S6. But what are Hero’s plans with the electric bike segment and why it matters?
Hero’s EV Bike Foray
In its quarter-two earnings conference call, Hero MotoCorp mentioned that it is in the process of developing its electric motorcycle with Zero Motorcycles. The company says that the work is in progress for the same.
The Splendor maker has confirmed that the electric bike will be in the middle-weight segment and the process is in advance stages. Back in January, the company stated its plans for almost 6 launches from fiscal year 2026 and beyond. These launches are expected to be across the board with four key focus areas. These are Performance, Premium, Mid-Premium and Mid.
Hero has invested almost $60 million in California based Zero Motorcycles and completed the funding back in March 2023. It mentioned back in January that the first launch is expected to be on a single base platform which will be used to develop at least 4 offerings.
EV Scooter Vida Expanding Horizon
The Splendor maker has said that It is also expanding its EV scooter portfolio. It is currently selling two models and expects to add more variants to other price segments before the end of this calendar year. The company is also expecting a slew of launches in the next six months for different segments and price range.
This will help the company compete better with its legacy peers TVS Motor who sells the I-Qube and Bajaj Auto with its Chetak brand.
They affirmed in their conference call that the EV business has started showing improvement with increase in the market share. Hero has sold 11,600 units in the festive season and now commands a 10% market share in 10 cities. They are seeing huge growth in regions like Kolkata, Cuttack and Bhilwara with 20% market share. While the regions like Delhi and Patna saw 10% growth during the festive season.
The company expects that electric vehicle contribution will improve with the launch of new products and has made an investment of Rs 175 crore in the EV business.
It has seen steady state growth in its market share and now commands 5.2% market share in electric two-wheeler segment. The EV 2-wheeler space has seen intense competition with Ola Electric losing market share to legacy players.
Also Read: TVS Regains No. 2 Position In Electric Two-Wheelers, Ola's Discounts Help Strengthen Leadership
Going Forward
The company stated that most of the customers are preferring reliable EVs and keeping this in mind, the company has also improved its dealer density. Hero is also improving its footprint with the Premia stores, which as the name suggests, is its stores for its premium portfolio expansion as well as increasing Hero 2.0 stores.
By end of FY25 the company will expand Hero 2.0 stores to 800 stores from 600 currently and Premia stores to 100+ from 58 as of this quarter.
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