India is the largest contributor to Honda’s global two-wheeler sales.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) has announced that the company will not stop making mass-market motorcycles. The company claims it holds the No. 1 position in the 125cc segment with the Shine. As of now, HMSI offers the Livo and the Dream series in the 110cc segment which is largely ruled by the Hero Splendor. The brand aims to upgrade their motorcycles with more fuel efficiency and good ride handling. Having said that, they have no intention to enter the entry-level mass-market motorcycle segment, like the Bajaj CT100 or the Hero HF Deluxe.
Talking about the premium motorcycle segment, HMSI has a strong intention to introduce new products in the future, post the BS6 emission norms implementation (April 2020). The offerings will include 160cc,200cc, 300cc iterations, etc.
The Cliq scooter was HMSI’s attempt to target entry/rural buyers. The company believes that buyers moved from mopeds and motorcycles to the Cliq and that there isn’t any need to have a different approach.
Since India is the largest contributor to Honda’s global two-wheeler sales, HMSI has to plan numbers based on the new capacities that are coming on stream. The company is confident that the market share will improve when they exceed their customer expectations and follow through the strategy.
Coming to exports, HMSI believes that once BS6 smoothens out in 2020 followed by the OBD (on-board vehicle diagnostic system) norms by 2023, the export will be easy to Europe and other advanced markets.
As for going electric, the idea isn’t part of the company’s mid-term plan. However, there are ideas and preparations with the PCX electric scheduled to be introduced in other countries soon.
Honda Mass-Market Bikes
– HMSI claims to hold the No. 1 position in the 125cc segment
– Aims to introduce new products post BS6 implementation
– Electric vehicles are not part of the company’s mid-term plan
Source – ETAuto.com