The country's largest two-wheeler manufacturer, Hero MotoCorp, on Wednesday said it has set up a separate vertical to drive its new business of Harley-Davidson products and merchandise distribution in India.
It has appointed Ravi Avalur as the Business Unit Head of the new vertical. He will report to Pawan Munjal, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Hero MotoCorp, the company said in a statement.
Avalur has joined Hero MotoCorp from engines and engine components manufacturer Cooper, where he was the Head of Strategy and International Business. Prior to Cooper, he was Managing Director at Ducati India.
The new team at Hero also includes four executives from Harley-Davidson’s erstwhile India operations, in the areas of sales, marketing, customer experiences, service and logistics.
The company has also commenced wholesale dispatches of Harley Davidson products to dealers from January 18.
Meanwhile, Hero MotoCorp has onboarded 11 existing Harley-Davidson dealers in key geographies across the country including Chennai, Delhi (Mathura Road), Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kochi and Bengaluru.
The company will also expand the service, parts and accessories business beyond the 11 cities currently covered by the newly appointed dealers, to a pan-India level through its extensive dealer network, it said.
"With customer-centricity and commitment to globally benchmarked sales and aftersales service as their focus, Hero MotoCorp and Harley-Davidson are committed together to providing a smooth and hassle-free ownership experience to the existing and future Harley Davidson customers in India," the company said.
Details of new model launches will be shared closer to launch dates, it added.