India’s moto-scene is coming to North America. Hero MotoCorp is starting to sell motorcycles in Mexico, a big move for the mega-company that positions them for even further growth in the Americas.

Who’s Hero MotoCorp? Although Hero is an absolute 800-lb gorilla in India’s motorcycle market, it’s relatively unknown in the US and Canada. Historically, Hero had a major partnership with Honda, but that’s been over for several years. Most North Americans, if they’ve ever heard of Hero, remember the Indian company for its short-lived hookup with Erik Buell Racing. Hero had a multi-million dollar deal with EBR, with EBR supposed to deliver 17 motorcycle designs to Hero. When EBR went under a few years back, many of the company’s fans blamed the deal with Hero, assuming (perhaps unfairly) that something went sour, and that was the reason for the implosion.

Back then, we also expected to see Hero enter the North American market, and that didn’t happen.

Now, Hero is setting up shop in Mexico. All of India’s moto-press is running the story, saying it’s part of Hero’s new plan for massive growth. Even as COVID-19 set the world motorcycle industry back, Hero is pushing hard into new markets, and Mexico is a big part of that plan.

Hero will sell small bikes in Mexico, because that’s what it makes, and that’s what the market wants: Machines in the 160-200 cc range, including several machines from the Hunk, Xpulse andIgnitor lines.

These bikes would probably be considered too small for the US/Canadian markets, although they might sell if the price was low enough. However, Hero is certainly working on other, larger designs (remember those team-ups with Erik Buell Racing?). Maybe we’ll see an entry into the American/Canadian markets as well, if those designs come to production.

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