Fact Check: True, Hero Cycles delivered its first batch of 'Made in India' e-bikes to Germany
A few posts on social media are claiming that Hero Cycles has delivered its first batch of "Made in India" e-bikes to Europe.
By Satya Priya BN Published on 29 Jun 2021 3:44 PM GMT
Hyderabad: A few posts on social media are claiming that Hero Cycles has delivered its first batch of "Made in India" e-bikes to Europe. "The first batch of around 200 units has been delivered to Germany," the posts claim.
The e-bikes delivered to Germany are completely "Made in India", the posts claim.
Fact Check:
The claim that the first batch of Hero Cycles' e-bikes sent to Germany is "Made in India" is TRUE.
According to reports, Hero Cycles delivered its first batch of "Made in India" e-bikes to Europe. Hero Motors Company (HMC) Group on Saturday said the first batch of around 200 units of e-bikes have been delivered to Germany.
The company exported the e-bikes under the HNF brand of Hero International (HIT).
"The first HNF branded bike built in India has landed on European shores. This is a big moment for the company and will demonstrate its ability to disrupt the market in Europe," said Jeff Weiss, the London-based CEO of Hero International.
According to a report on 'hindustantimes.com', Hero expects the sale of e-bikes to reach around 15 million units in Europe by 2030 and is poised to be a market leader in the segment. "We expect to make high-quality e-bikes fusing HNF's engineering and design expertise with Hero's manufacturing capability, especially with the 100-acre Cycle Valley in Ludhiana," said Weiss.
Meanwhile, a 'Business Today' report said Hero has established its digital supply chain company, Hero Supply Chain (HSC), a team specialized in logistics management and digital transformation to cater to the growing demand for bikes and e-bikes. "HSC is designed to act as a consolidated buying house for HIT and cater to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) demand in the EU for supplies from India. Hero's latest venture, Spur, will manufacture key components for bicycles in-house, a move aimed at further de-risking the value chain," the report further said.
Hero Cycles has a manufacturing capacity of six million bicycles per year and a network of plants located in Ludhiana (Punjab), Ghaziabad (UP), and Bihta (Bihar). It has a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Sri Lanka, a Design Centre in the UK, and it also owns UK-based Avocet Sports, Germany-based HNF, and Firefox Bikes in India.
Indian-made electric bicycles aren't subject to the heavy tariffs levied against many Chinese electric bicycle companies. Hero also brings to the table its own massive manufacturing resources and expertise.
According to the website 'electrek.co', Hero plans to add ā¬300M in organic growth from its European operations by 2025 and another ā¬200M in inorganic growth likely through mergers and acquisitions.
It further said that the move comes at a time when "India is increasingly establishing itself as a major global competitor in the development and production of light electric vehicles and their associated systems".
Hence, the claim that the first batch of e-bikes sent to Germany by Hero Cycles is "Made in India" is TRUE.
