BREAKING: COULD MAHINDRA OR HERO GOBBLE UP HYOSUNG?
2011 Hyosung GT650R
What goes around comes around and if this potentially happens, South Korean motorcycle major, Hyosung could find itself gobbled up by either Mahindra Two Wheelers or by Hero Motors, which recently split it’s two decade old partnership with Honda. Once upon a time, when the erstwhile Kinetic Engineering Limited existed, it tied up with Hyosung and brought the Kinetic GF125 and GF170 models to India along with a couple of imports like the Hyosung Aquila Cruiser and the Hyosung Comet 250.
Both the imports sold like hot cakes but Kinetic, for reasons best known only to it, stopped importing more shipments after the initial one or two. Even so, the Aquila and Comet 250 enjoy a good fan following in India and Pune based Garware Motors is all set to encash on this by assembling and launching the Hyosung ST7 Cruiser and the Hyosung GT650R in the near future. Even as Garware is finalizing dealers across many Indian cities, this bit of buzz emerges, and it does as a shocker.
Mahindra Two Wheelers needs new technology to survive and hence the Hyosung acquisition makes a lot of sense for the firm. Hero Motors, now finding itself in no-mans land with Honda exiting also needs to launch bigger capacity motorcycles to stay relevant even as Bajaj, Mahindra and Honda ready themselves for a big push in the premium 250cc plus motorcycle segment of the Indian motorcycle market.
So, either of these two players might just end gobbling up the South Korean Hyosung and liquid cash not being a limiting factor for both these firms, expect a very stiff battle right up to the finish if indeed Mahindra and Hero decide to go for Hysoung. What then will happen to Garware Motors and the impending launch of the ST7 and GT650R is the biggest question which is on our minds now. This move from Hero and Mahindra definitely puts the Garware Motors-Hyosung tie up hanging in balance.
We hope that the coming days will see some clearing of air at least on this front as motorcycle enthusiasts will want to hold on to their monies till the air is clear about which way the Hyosung deal will go.
