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India's largest two-wheeler seller, Hero Motocorp is about to launch its first electric vehicle in the EV segment on October 7 after much delay due to the ongoing arbitration with Hero Electric over the “Hero” brand name.
Over these controversies, Hero MotoCorp has filed various patents for the brand name Vida, Vida MotoCorp, Vida EV, Vida Electric, Vida Scooters, and even Vida Motorcycles. The house will brand its electric mobility initiatives under the name Vida.
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What has created a rift between the Munjal brothers?
In 2010, the Hero Group was divided into three parts – Brijmohan Lall Munjal’s family got control of flagship firm Hero MotoCorp and Hero Corporate Services among others. Hero Cycles, Hero Motors, and Munjal Sales Corporation are given to Om Prakash Munjal, whose son Pankaj Munjal is currently the CMD of Hero Cycles. Satyanand Munjal’s family gets control of Munjal Showa, Munjal Auto, and other related businesses. Dayanand Munjal (now controlled by his son Vijay Munjal) got ownership of Hero Exports, Hero Electric, and Sunbeam Auto.
In 2019, Naveen Munjal claimed exclusive ownership of the ‘Hero’ brand in the electric vehicle segment and asked for an injunction against Hero MotoCorp to use the ‘Hero’ brand name for launching its electric vehicles in the Delhi High Court.
The high court didn’t debar the company from using the brand name “Hero” and had asked the parties to take the matter to arbitration. Post which, Hero Electric withdrew its petition against Hero MotoCorp. The matter was referred to the arbitral tribunal.
Arbitration gave the ruling in the favor of Hero MotoCorp allowing it to use the ‘Hero’ brand name for its electric vehicles since the company has invested Rs 400 crore on the business of electric vehicles and expenses of almost Rs 7,000 crore on the brand building of Hero in the past 10 years.
Can Hero MotoCorp make its presence in the EV segment despite entering late?
Hero MotoCorp has announced a $100-million Global Sustainability Fund with an aim to establish global partnerships, spearheaded by the BML Munjal University (BMU) on ESG (environmental, social, and governance) solutions.
“When I see our future generations, especially my grandchildren, all I want to do is build a future of positive energy, which is clean, where everyone has something to look forward to and participate in something bigger and better. I will lead this initiative from the front,” said Pawan Munjal.
The company has tied up with Ather’s fast-charging technology for developing charging infra, global business, or front end.
Recently the company entered into a joint venture with Taiwan-based Gogoro, for about $285 million to develop a battery-swapping platform.
A study by the Swiss firm, UBS, says that Hero will have a 10% market share in EVs in the long term, and its overall two-wheeler market share will fall from around 35% currently to 32-25 % in FY 25-30.
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