Aprillia and Hero Honda, India
thestatesman.net
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Ralph pointed to this news on the OEC2 Yahoo! Groups
Hero ties up with Aprilia of Italy
Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI, Nov. 19. — India’s largest motorcycle firm Hero Motors today said it has tied up with Europe’s second largest producer of motorcycles and scooters, Aprilia of Italy, for manufacturing scooters in the country from the next year end.
Hero Motors, which is investing Rs 135 crore in setting up a manufacturing line at its Ghaziabad plant near here, will launch its first co-branded non-geared scooter in the fourth quarter of 2004, Hero Motors managing director Pankaj Munjal told a news conference.
The company will source vehicle design for the non-geared scooters, which, it says, will be a fusion of scooter economy and efficiency and style of bikes, from Aprilia. These scooters will be launched in 75 cc, 92 cc (targeting young female market), 125 cc (targeting family and young male market) and 177 cc category (exclusively for export market).....................................................
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“If you want the best of technology, comfort, style and performance, you have to pay a premium,” he said. The premium could be about 10 per cent over the competing models.
Aprilia will not have any equity in the venture and will only be paid an unspecified royalty per vehicle for the technology and design....................................
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Aprilia will transfer technological know-how, which would primarily include design. Hero Motors, which will pay Aprilia royalty per vehicle for using its brand name and technical expertise, will have the exclusive right for the Aprilia-licensed co-branded vehicles in India.
Aprilia would be buying back vehicles for the European market and other growing markets like South-east Asia, Latin America and Africa. Both companies would also lay emphasis on evelopment of new technology like electronic fuel injection to meet the Euro-II emission norms, he added.
That last sentence almost looks like it has a typo and could easily be changed (with a couple little letters added and removed) to read: ....Both companies would also delay emphasis on development of new technology like electronic fuel injection to meet the Euro-II emission norms........... but that does not seem to make sense if they are talking about paying a "premium" for "the best technology."
Hope they are talking about using Orbital's technology. |
