Hero MotoCorp enters Colombia

New Delhi, July 7 (IANS) Two-wheeler major Hero MotoCorp Monday said it had forayed into South American country Colombia by commencing construction of its fully-owned manufacturing plant in the country.

"Today, we laid the foundation stone of our manufacturing plant at Villa Rica in Colombia, the first full-fledged plant by an Indian two-wheeler manufacturer in Latin America," said Pawan Munjal, managing director and chief executive, Hero MotoCorp.

"Once operational towards the middle of financial year 2015-16, the plant will have an annual capacity of 78,000 units that will be scaled up to 150,000 units in the next 3-4 years."

According to Munjal, the company will be investing $70 million into the fully-owned subsidiary in Colombia, of which $38 million will go in for capital expenditure and the rest will be utilised as working capital over the next three years.

The company said that the equity investment will be made through HMC's wholly-owned subsidiary in the Netherlands - HMCL BV.

Since parting away from its Japanese partner Honda in 2011, the company has augmented its global presence and sells its products in as many as 19 countries.

The company has also established its international assembly units in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in East Africa through its distributors. The company has two new manufacturing plants coming up - at Colombia, and a joint venture (JV) unit in Bangladesh.

Hero MotoCorp sold a record 6.25 million two-wheelers in the 2013-14 - the highest-ever by any single two-wheeler manufacturer in a financial year.

By the year 2020, the company aims to cross 100 million units in cumulative production, and annual bike and scooter sales of 12 million units. It also plans to have more than 20 manufacturing and assembly plants across the globe with sales in more than 50 countries by that year.

--Indon-Asian News Service

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