Electric mobility has started gaining traction and with this, every automotive industry, whether two-wheeler, three-wheeler or four-wheeler, is witnessing an influx of electric vehicles. This growth in demand has led the Munjal family in disputes. Owners of Hero Electric, Naveen Munjal and Vijay Munjal have taken their cousin Pawan Munjal, owner of Hero MotoCorp, to court.
One of the leaders in the two-wheeler segment, Hero was about to debut its upcoming EV range but the owners of Hero Electric dragged them to the court for the use of the Hero brand name for Hero MotoCorp's upcoming electric vehicles.
According to the data available over the web, Naveen and Vijay Munjal have been in the EV business for the past 15 years. This brand name issue did not pop up till now because Hero MotoCorp is yet to venture into EV business but with the increased growth of electric mobility, more and more companies have started producing electric vehicles.
With the evolution of time and technology, the industry is getting competitive and even the government is pushing auto manufacturers to produce more electric vehicles. Society now needs to make a move towards electric mobility for a sustainable future. In line with this, Hero MotoCorp is about to reveal its electric two-wheeler range but Hero Electric claims that they have exclusively used their brand name for EV offerings. So far, neither of the parties have commented on this issue.
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It must be noted that so far, as per a mutual agreement within the Munjals family, the rights to use Hero branding for EVs has been given only to owner of Hero Electric. Therefore, Hero MotoCorp can't be using the Hero brand name to market its upcoming range of EVs. Doing so will be in clear violation of this agreement, which was reportedly signed between the family members back in 2010. While this agreement allows other family members to enter electric vehicles industry, the right to use Hero brand name for EVs lies only with Naveen Munjal and Vijay Munjal. This is because usage of 'Hero' brand name to sell electric vehicles will give Hero MotoCorp, an established player in the two-wheeler industry, a clear advantage over Hero Electric.
Speaking to the media, Naveen Munjal, Managing Director of Hero Electric, has stated There is a very clear agreement within the family which happened when we did the restructuring in 2010 on how the brands are going to be used. There was no non-compete (clause) as far as product segments are concerned, which means anybody could get into any segment but there exists a very strong non-compete clause for brand usage.
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