| Author | Message | ||
     Hughlysses |
Interesting- I found an article on Hero's current financial troubles yesterday on an Indian business site and posted a comment and link to the Roadracing World article. They approved my post and put it up: http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies /hero-motocorp-rural-demand-woes-will-keep-near-te rm-outlook-muted-115043000667_1.html | ||
| Steveford |
Good for you! | ||
| Finedaddy1 |
Two thumbs up Hugh! | ||
| 46champ |
Way to go Hugh. | ||
| Strokizator |
I was wondering when someone would mention replacement bikes. The 10 gazillion bikes a year they're selling aren't necessarily going to 10 gazillion eager new riders; I think it's more like replacing an awful lot of cheap bikes which have croaked and then get junked by the owners because it just makes more sense to buy another one than sink money into the wretched old pile. I've thought about this for awhile. India has a population of about 1.25 billion. Lots of them have very little money and ride motorcycles for economic reasons. If it's just 10% of the population, that's still 125 million motorcycles. Even a well made motorcycle, driven on well maintained roads, eventually wears out. A bike used for daily duties wears even faster. 10 year motorcycle life expectancy = 12.5 million replacements/year. That's a boatload of bikes. I'm guessing at the number of people who ride and how long the bikes last but when you're talking billions, even a few percentage points is a huge number. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Honda's still causing trouble for Hero: "Honda Disputes Hero's Fuel Economy Claim" http://profit.ndtv.com/news/corporates/article-hon da-disputes-heros-fuel-economy-claim-760143 | ||
| Steveford |
I never thought I'd find myself cheering on Honda but in this case I will make an exception. | ||
| Testcase |
Regarding that fuel claim thing. Hero's response is pretty funny. Methinks they doth protest too much. "YOU'RE QUESTIONING OUR ENTIRE GOVERNMENT AND WAY OF LIFE?!?!?!" | ||
| Pwnzor |
Maybe we should dispute all the Japanese manufacturer's speedometer claims!  | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Or tachometer claims. Remember the R1 bogus tachometer readings. | ||
| Blake |
R6, but yes, like it was yesterday. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Yep, sorry. R6. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Nearly all scooter speedos are 10-20% "optimistic". | ||
| Aesquire |
Wasn't there a lawsuit recently over Kia & Hyundai mileage claims? https://www.kiampgclasssettlement.com/ yep. https://www.kiampgclasssettlement.com/ | ||
| Steveford |
Looks like the comments have been wasted. | ||
| Jaimec |
I think Federal Law in the US only allows a maximum of 10% fluctuations in a speedometer. My K1200LT reads almost exactly 10% faster than the speed displayed by my GPS. My C650GT is only about 3 to 5% optimistic by comparison. The 1125R I used to have was somewhere between the two. | ||
| Court |
49 CFR 393.82 applies to buses, trucks and tractor trailers. I'm not certain if there is anything that pertains to motorcycles. | ||
| Fast1075 |
My Honda scooters have speedo readings within 1 mph from my GPS and the traffic warning radars that are everywhere in flaw'duh. My Kawasaki is a bit optimistic, which is handy in it's own way to help avoid tickets. | ||
| Hughlysses |
OK, enough thread drift for a while. Interesting report on Hero: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/result-poll/hero- motocorp-q4-profit-seen183-opm-may-fall-146-bps_13 76912.html My take is profits are up, but everything else is down. | ||
| Moshaholic2 |
^^^ yes, they had a very profitable quarter and thats what led to the initial view that HERO was going to swoop in and buy EBR at auction... Until the dirt came to light about unpaid millions owed to EBR | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
How long before we should expect some word from the attorney that is in charge of disposing of EBR? | ||
| Hughlysses |
As discussed in the EBR sub-forum, 1190 owners received letters from that attorney basically stating if they had any claims against EBR, they should submit them within 90 days. I'd guess EBR's suppliers got similar letters. Based on that, I guess 90 days after the date of the letters is the soonest we could hope to hear anything official. | ||
| Steveford |
Of course profits are up, they're busy stiffing everyone they come in contact with. I would love to be a fly on the wall at Magnet Marelli and see how their joint venture is going. | ||
| 46champ |
Exactly pretty easy to be profitable when you don't pay your bills. Wish I could run my business that way. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Related news; former EBR rider Nic Canepa has a new ride in WSBK: http://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/2015/Niccol+Canepa +joins+Team+Grillini Good for him. | ||
| Pwnzor |
I would love to be a fly on the wall at Magnet Marelli and see how their joint venture is going. I've been running between 1 to 3 truckloads per day to their facility in Pulaski, Tennessee... And I know three other carriers who are doing likewise. Don't know if that has anything to do with anything. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Two big Hero items in the news today, forth quarter profits down 14%: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks /earnings/hero-motocorp-q4-net-declines-14-at-rs-4 77-crore/articleshow/47189741.cms and "Hero MotoCorp to set up subsidiary in US" http://www.business-standard.com/content/b2b-manuf acturing-industry/hero-motocorp-to-set-up-subsidia ry-in-us-115050800741_1.html  | ||
| Stevel |
It appears that Hero has not paid their design bills to ERB and that is the cause of EBR's demise. Of course it is conjecture as to why that came to pass, because only the principles know at the moment, but the truth will come out. The quote below is a comment from the Roadracing World mag article of Apr 29. Sort by Newest first Oldest first Hugh Odom I suppose poor sales might explain this: "Insiders say that Hero has not paid EBR about $20 million owed for engineering and design work EBR did on 13 new Hero models for the Indian market. EBR bore the expense of the engineering and design work, then ran out of operating capital while waiting to be paid for that work, those insiders said." http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/hero-motocorp- ltd-trouble-in-india/ | ||
| Stevel |
It appears this isn't the first time Hero has not paid its bills. I have read that the falling out Hero had with Honda was due to Hero not paying Honda royalty payments. I hate to say this, but it appears a typical problem when dealing with Indian businessmen in my experiences as well. Others have posted here on the poor quality of other Indian products, which is very true also in my experience. When manufacturing faults appear, rarely will the factory respond to an equitable remedy. Worse is that Indian industry has an even worse reputation than Chinese Industry in making junk. The best designed products in the world, if made in error, is still junk. | ||
| Tankhead |
Umm Steve I think that was Hughlysses who posted that.... Hugh Odom |
