Hero MotoCorp’s Colombian plant goes on stream

Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, has opened its manufacturing facility Villa Rica, in Colombia. The new plant will manufacture 10 products from the Hero MotoCorp portfolio, including the Dash scooter.

Juan Manuel Santos, president of Colombia and Pawan Munjal, chairman, MD and CEO of Hero MotoCorp, inaugurated the plant here yesterday at a ceremony attended by ministers from the government of Colombia, government officials, senior bureaucrats and Hero MotoCorp associates.

Completed in a little over nine months since construction began, the Colombia plant is Hero’s fifth manufacturing facility, in addition to four assembly plants in India. According to the company, this facility will act as a hub for selling to the Andean countries. It can also be a strategic base for shipping to North American markets such as Mexico and the US

Spread over 17 acres at the Parque Sur free trade zone at Villa Rica in the state of Cauca, about 500km south-west of Bogota, the plant will have an initial production capacity of 80,000 units per annum. This capacity will be expanded to produce 150,000 units per annum, in the next phase. The plant has been built at a project cost of US$ 70 million of which US$ 38 million has been utilised in capex and the rest will be used as working capital over the next few years.

With the commencement of operations at the manufacturing plant in Colombia, the New Delhi-headquartered HeroMotoCorp has become the first Indian two-wheeler manufacturer to set up a manufacturing plant in Latin America.

Currently Hero sells its range of two-wheelers through 160 outlets spread across 133 cities and towns in the country. Some of the products include the 100cc Splendor iSmart, Eco Deluxe, and Passion-Pro; the 125cc Glamour; the 150cc Thriller and the 225c Karizma ZMR. All models have a 4-year warranty on all its models.

Hero MotoCorp currently sells its products in 24 countries – Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Egypt and Turkey in Asia; Peru, Ecuador and Colombia in South America; Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica in Central America; Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda in East Africa; Ethiopia in South Africa; and Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola in West Africa.

In partnership with its local distributors, Hero has also established assembly units in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in East Africa and is in the process of setting up another overseas manufacturing plant in Bangladesh.