It has been close to four months since Hero Motocorp launched the Xtreme 125R – an entry-level sporty motorcycle. Since then, the company has managed to attract a whole new type of consumers into their brand.
Hero MotoCorp was always known for its highly fuel-efficient and unbreakable motorcycles like the Passion and the Splendor range. For long, the strong brand recall for Hero MotoCorp was purely built on these two motorcycle brands. But a few years ago, the company launched the Xpulse and this helped them create a new segment and as a result, the brand recall and value of Hero MotoCorp increased drastically in the high-margin premium motorcycle segment. But post that, there weren’t any such products that created a big impact till they launched the Xtreme 125R.
When I tested the Xtreme 125R, I was blown away by the way the motorcycle handles, rides and more importantly its looks. In fact, it just took me a few minutes to realise that the Xtreme 125R has the potential to redefine the segment – and it looks like it is slowly doing that. Recently, the company announced to increase the production capacity of this bike to 1000 units a day to meet the high demand. According to some dealers in Mumbai and New Delhi, there’s a waiting period of around two to three months for this motorcycle, and to be honest, I really don’t remember the last time there was a waiting period for a 125cc commuter motorcycle.
We spoke with a few Hero MotoCorp dealers to understand what worked for the Xtreme 125R. Almost all of them said that the people who are buying the Xtreme 125R are young professionals who have either entered the corporate world recently or have been working professionally for a few years. These consumers have previously used 100cc-110cc motorcycles for commuting, but now want something stylish and more aspirational, without compromising on fuel efficiency. A few of these consumers did try a few other motorcycles like the TVS Raider 125 – a bike leading the sporty segment (Honda Shine 125 leads the segment overall). However, these consumers assume that Hero MotoCorp has better service reach and cheaper cost of ownership. Some of the dealers are also using the Xtreme 125R to upsell to prospective Glamour Xtec buyers.
In the next few months, the Hero Xtreme 125R will likely continue to grow in sales, especially when the festive season kicks in. In fact, we strongly believe that the Xtreme 125R is one of the best motorcycles ever launched in India. So should TVS be worried for the Raider 125? Maybe not in the short term but in the long term, there’s a high chance the Raider 125 be affected. But knowing TVS, they would already have a Raider 125 upgrade ready to counter the growth of Xtreme 125R and in such fights, it’s always the Indian customers who will benefit the most.
