Hero Honda institute to train mobike riders

Hero Honda Motors Limited has opened a first of its kind "Ride Safe School" to offer professional training to two-wheeler drivers.

The school, opened in association with a dealer, M/s. Aditya Auto Agencies, is equipped with state-of-the-art machinery, a simulator and vehicles for imparting training.

The school was inaugurated by the octogenarian Chairman of Hero Honda Motors Limited, Brijmohan Lall Munjal and Joint Managing Director, T Nakagawa, at a glittering function here.

Munjal said Hero Honda has always promoted safe driving and the school was another step in the direction. Hero Honda plans to open 40 such schools in the country, 10 of which will be opened in the next few months.

The Hero Honda Ride Safe School here has an intake capacity of 35 students who will be offered two days of theory lessons and four to five days of practical driving lessons for a nominal fee.

The fee will also include the cost of procuring a learning licence and later, if the student so desires, an additional charge will be levied for assistance in getting a permanent licence.

"The objective is not to help people get their permanent licence but to help them learn safe driving," said an official from Hero Honda. Stressing the need for a training academy, Munjal said there were around 4 lakh two-wheeler accidents reported last year many of which were fatal.

He said there were no organised safety oriented training programmes being offered by any automobile company in the country so Hero Honda had taken the lead in promoting the concept.

The Ride Safe School features riding stimulators, riding tracks, road stretches with varying road conditions and riding equipment. It will have world class training modules and qualified instructors.

Munjal also inaugurated Hero Honda's certified pre-owned vehicles showroom on his visit here. This was the fourth such showroom to be opened in the country, the first three being in Delhi, Aurangabad and Pune. The riding school, however, is a pilot project and a first of its kind.

Later talking to reporters, Munjal said Hero Honda had no intention of entering the high-powered cruiser bikes segment in India.

"We have no intention of sourcing technology for high-powered bikes from Honda at the moment but could do so if we find adequate demand for such bikes in the future," said Munjal.

He said the Indian motorcycle market was still not ready for high-powered motorcycles and the demand was more utility driven.

In the West they have sports bikes, travel bikes, entertainment bikes and even health bikes, he said adding that the Indian market was still in a developing stage and neither followed such categorization nor had the necessary road infrastructure required for these bikes.

Munjal said Hero Honda was planning to introduce seven new models of mobikes in a year to cater to "every existing sub-segment in the motorcycle industry."

He declined to reveal details of the models saying that they were still on the drawing board but explained that the rationale behind so many new models was giving people a reason to change.

"People get tired of seeing the same design year after year and so we phase out old designs. This is an ongoing process with all automobile manufacturers. There can be some cosmetic changes and may be once in a while some technological upgradation. The bike is then re-introduced in a new avatar," said a down to earth Munjal.