To attack Activa, Hero launches its first 125cc Destini scooter



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Hero MotoCorp, the largest Indian manufacturer of two-wheelers, launched its first Destini on Monday in New Delhi, as it seeks to protect itself from the challenge of former Honda Motorcycle Scooters India (HMSI) partner.

At a price of 54,650-57,500 rupees, Destini will compete with the 125cc version of Activa, the best-selling scooter in India for almost 10 years.

Presented for the first time as Duet 125 at this year's Auto Expo, Destini was fully developed in-house at the company's Innovation and Development Center in Jaipur. It is powered by an air-cooled 125cc single cylinder engine, based on the Duet 110cc powertrain, and delivers maximum power of 8.7 hp at 6750 rpm and torque of 10.2 NM at 5,000 RPM

"The scooter market is shifting to higher engine capacity products, with the 125cc segment in particular experiencing rapid growth, with growth of more than 75% since the beginning of the year. exercise, "says Malo Le Mbadon, director of global product planning, Hero Motocorp. "The 125cc segment is our favorite area and we are strategically following a multi-brand approach in this space, and in line with this strategy, we have started today in this category with the Destini 125 and we will soon introduce another scooter at the end of the year. "

Since her break with Honda at the end of 2010, Hero has managed her solo journey well, maintaining her leading position in the market. However, over the last five years, Honda has been under pressure from the strong demand for scooters in the country, while the sale of motorcycles, an important area for Hero, has stagnated relatively. Hero's market share between 2011-2012 and the first half of this fiscal year (2018-2019) dropped by almost 10 percentage points, from 45% to 35.74%, while Honda grew on demand the same period, rising from 14.89% in the same period. at 28.89%.

Even though Hero also lost shares in the motorcycle segment during these 8 years, going from 55.88 to 50.8% – Honda going from 7.66 to 15.11%, its inability to find traction on the scooter market is particularly worrying. . Despite repeated attempts with products like Pleasure, Duet and Maestro, Hero's share in the scooter segment has increased from 16.2% in 2011-2012 to only 10.42% in 2018-19 until now. . Powered by the Activa, Honda's share is no longer immune, rising from 48.6% to 58.16% over the same period.

As Honda gets closer to him and breathes in his neck, Hero desperately needs a resounding success in scooters. The gap is great. None of its three existing models manages to sell more than 50,000 units per month. Activa sells more than 250,000 units per month. The hero hopes Destini will help bring some parity.

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