Formerly Hero Honda, Hero MotoCorp Ltd. of New Delhi, India, has announced record calendar year sales for 2014.
The company says that it sold 6.64 million units in 2014, which was 8 percent up over 2013, and consolidates the business as the world's largest powered two-wheeler manufacturer.
With sales running at some 400,000 and up for the first nine months of its April 2014 to March 2015 financial year, it looks like the company will also post record sales numbers and revenues for its current financial year.
The company started as a joint venture between Honda and Hero Cycles in 1984 and bought Honda's shareholding in 2010 when the Japanese manufacturer decided to withdraw from the venture, becoming Hero MotoCorp in 2011.
"Hero" was the brand name chosen by the Munjal brothers for their company when they first started Hero Cycles in 1956.
In 2013, the company embarked on an ambitious international expansion plan by taking a 49.2 percent shareholding in Erik Buell Racing of East Troy, Wisconsin - the racebike and sportsbike manufacturing business started by chassis engineer Erik Buell when Harley-Davidson decided to close down their Buell Motorcycles subsidiary in 2009.
As part of their long-term plans for the EBR Motorcycles collaboration, Team Hero EBR announced that it is continuing with its involvement in racing with a two-rider team running the EBR 1190 RX in the World Superbike Championship in 2015.
The race team is based in Italy, with EBR's European streetbike distribution facility headed up by former Zero Motorcycles and Triumph man Edwin Belonje at Alkmaar in the Netherlands.
Last year Hero launched in several international markets including Turkey, Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Mozambique, Ethiopia and most recently Columbia, where the company has formed a wholly-owned subsidiary and commenced construction of a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.
In one of the biggest brand endorsements by any Indian company, last year also saw Hero hire 14-times major champion golfer Tiger Woods as its first Global Corporate Partner.
www.heromotocorp.com
