Hero MotoCorp Ltd: Rise of 'Hum Mein Hai Hero'

“IT IS not just a change of name; it marks the ushering in of a new era that will unlock the immense potential of this company to build its own capabilities to grow beyond boundaries.” - Dr Brijmohan Lall Munjal, Chairman, Hero MotoCorp Ltd.

The change from Hero Honda to Hero MotoCorp is now complete after the company received a fresh copy of Certificate of Incorporation following the name change. This decision represented the end of Hero Honda Motors Ltd (HHML), a 28-year-old partnership between Hero Group and Honda Motor Company. Hero is the brand name used by the Munjal brothers for their flagship company Hero Cycles Ltd. and Honda is a brand owned by Japanese auto giant Honda Motor Company. In 2001, Hero Honda Motors Ltd (HHML) became the largest two-wheeler manufacturing company in India and also got the status of the ‘World No.1’ two-wheeler company in terms of unit volume sales in a calendar year.  Hero Honda had brought the concept of a two–wheeler as a mode of civic transport in India. Honda also entered in Indian two wheeler market independently with Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, Private Limited (HMSI) in 1999 and made its mark with some of successful two wheeler brands like Honda Activa and Honda Unicorn.

Manjul family and Honda group both hold 26% stake in the Company. After the end of the partnership the Munjal family will purchase Honda Motor’s 26% stake for around $1 billion, or a little less than half the current value of the stake in the stock market. There were varieties of issues between both the partners viz. Honda's reluctance to fully and freely share technology with Hero, discomfort of Hero over paying High royalty to Honda, Refusal of Hero to the offer of merger between Hero’s spare part business with Honda Motors India etc. before both decided to separate. Although Hero and Honda decided to split, Honda will continue to provide technology to Hero Honda motorbikes (now Hero Bikes) until 2014 for existing as well as future models. In order to rebrand itself effectively, Hero MotoCorp Ltd. unveiled new brand identity and logo (designed by Wolff Olins, a London based brand consulting firm) on August 09, 2011 and launched  launched its integrated marketing communication across the media. ‘Hum Mein Hai Hero’ by Music Legend A R Rahman is the theme song for the latest TVC of Hero MotoCorp Ltd. The success of the brand makeover totally depends on the speed of Hero MotoCorp Ltd. to leveraging the new identity and moving out of the Hero Honda’s ‘Desh Ki Dhadkan’.