Hero MotoCorp puts scooter play in higher gear with Xoom

Sporty-looking vehicle will come in three variants, prices start Rs 68,599

Hero MotoCorp on Monday launched Xoom, a 110cc scooter with corner-bending lights, bigger tyres and sporty look, to build its presence in a segment where it has just about seven per cent share in terms of unit sales.

Hero's former partner, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), dominates the scooter segment, primarily due to Activa that is available with 110cc engine as well as 125 cc engine. HMSI owns about half of the scooter segment. Hero, on the other hand, is the market leader in the motorcycle segment with about 46 per cent share.

Scooter sales saw a significant growth of about 32 per cent in India in April-December period last year. "Look at the opportunity you have with industry-first features like the corner bending lights, or the segment-first features such as fastest acceleration and bigger tyres. The company's market share is an outcome. That (increase) will happen, if the consumer believes in our proposition," said Ranjivjit Singh, Chief Growth Officer (CGO) at Hero MotoCorp, India's largest two-wheeler maker.

"Our job is to make that proposition so wonderful and communicate it to the consumers. The consumers will pull it in," he said.

Xoom's lights work automatically when the rider is taking a turn. Xoom has been launched in three variants—LX, VX, ZX—at prices starting Rs 68,599 (ex-showroom).

The 110 cc segment is the largest among scooters with a share of about 63 per cent. "We have looked into that and said that there is a trend that is coming up. In this trend, the youngsters want more products in the sporty segment. We have selected features for Xoom keeping those consumers in mind," Singh said.

When asked what kind of volume sales it is targeting for Xoom, Singh replied: "I am not ready to share the numbers. But, with the level of research and development (R&D) that has gone into it, we believe this (Xoom) will be a much sought after product."

In India, a total of 3.98 million scooters were sold in the April-December period last year. In the same period of 2021, 3.02 million scooters were sold in the country.

As many as 7.93 million motorcycles were sold in India in the April-December period last year. In the same period of 2021, the motorcycle sales stood at 6.79 million.