Honda Motorcycle has gone super offensive post its breakup with Hero. The company wants to boost its retail presence massively by setting up 500 new dealerships in a span of just nine months. These new dealerships will be opened in tier-II and tier-III cities where Honda wants to boost its presence by selling the recently launched Dream Yuga commuter motorcycle. The Japanese motorcycle maker expects to grow sales by 30% by the end of this fiscal.
“We will be adding 500 new dealers, sub-dealers in current fiscal which will take our network’s total strength to 2,000. The main focus will be on expanding base in tier-II and tier-III cities,” Y S Guleria, Vice-President (Sales and Marketing), said.
Honda currently sits at the number three spot in the Indian 2-wheeler market, right on the heels of home grown automaker, Bajaj Auto. While Honda gets majority of its sales from scooters and low segment commuter bikes, Bajaj Auto brings in most of its sales from the Discover and Pulsar range of motorcycles. Honda plans to sell 27.5 lakh units by by March 2013, which is a 6.5 lakh unit over the previous fiscal. Honda is setting up a third plant in anticipation of increased sales in the future. This third plant is coming up in Karnataka and will start production in April 2013.