Buell To Distribute Hero Motorcycles in US

[Gummiente]

Hero Motorcycles, who own a 49% stake in EBR, will have their bikes and scooters distributed in the US by Buell in 2014. Click HERE for the story.

[BRUMBEAR]

This IMHO is a good thing as it will give the smaller cc ridersa choice to buy an inexpensive small machine and some green tech as well. I was against it originally and still am a little apprehensive but with UL and quality control here being pretty good they should or rather could do OK.

[jstark47]

How big a dealer network does EBR have? I mean, is this even an effective tactic for Hero to gain market penetration?

[BRUMBEAR]

Not sure yet but on EBR site there are applications for dealers and with Hero Money it should not be to difficult to get a network up and running. If I owned a small dealership I would entertain it as the Hero machines would fly outa here especially in NNJ as a good portion of the population is Asian.

[jstark47]

If I owned a small dealership I would entertain it as the Hero machines would fly outa here especially in NNJ as a good portion of the population is Asian.

I don't know about that. There's a place down here that started as an independent repair shop, then added franchises for Hyosung and for Zero electric motorcycles. The Zeroes sell well. The Hyosungs do not, and they are perfectly reasonable bikes for cheap money.

The other thing I wonder about is places I know that do have EBR franchises tend to carry other premium, high-end brands too. They serve a different customer base than people who want inexpensive, small, basic motorcycles.

[BRUMBEAR]

I hear ya on Hyosung but they are a Korean sv knock off and they don't have a Hyosung in every house as Hero does so to speak anyway. Hero is formerly Hero Honda for those that do not know and they sell more MC than anyone in the world I believe. Not that this is the relevance it's sorta like a chevy it's what folks know and can afford so they will sell IMO. If the reliability is there the entry level machines will move very well me thinks.