'First completely in-house product from new Hero R&D facility within next 3-4 years'
- by Alshaar Khan
- Mar 10, 2016
- | Views: 2061
During the official showcasing of its all-encompassing new Centre of Innovation and Technology, Hero also revealed that it will start exporting bikes to Nigeria by the end of this month while Mexico is the next big target market
The world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp will roll out its first product, fully conceived in-house at its new R&D facility, within the next 3-4 years, informed the company's CTO Dr Markus Braunsperger. He was addressing the media during the official showcasing of the facility, named the Centre of Innovation and Technology (CIT), in Jaipur on Thursday. The previous two scooter offerings from the manufacturer, the Maestro and the Duet, have also been developed in-house by Hero.
The CIT is a state-of-the-art R&D facility set up by Hero in Rajasthan to combine ideation, prototype manufacturing, testing and validation within the confines of one campus. The Rs 250 crore-worth Centre, spread across a sprawling 247-acre area, comprises laboratories, design studios and a 16 km-long testing track with 45 different testing conditions. A talent pool of around 500 engineers has been assembled from across the world for the CIT that will see the ouster of Hero's all such previous facilities in the country.
Interacting with the media on the occasion, Dr Braunsperger said, "There is a standard time that is required to manufacture a certain two-wheeler. So you can say that Hero will be able to do so within the next 3-4 years with the establishment of the CIT."
Chairman, MD and CEO of Hero MotoCorp, Pawan Munjal, who also replied to queries from the members of the media, then highlighted the company's plans to become the World's Number One automaker in the true sense of the term. Expanding Hero's global reach is thus a part of the company's plans.
"We are already exporting bikes to more than 25 countries in the world. By the end of this month, we will be also expanding to Nigeria, which is one of the largest markets in Africa. The next big market that we will be exporting to will be Mexico," he said.
The company also spoke about its plans in the alternative or hybrid fuel space. "We are exploring such technologies as you could see at the Auto Expo. But it will take a certain amount of time for us to test it completely and make it production-ready," said Dr Braunsperger.