Honda has confirmed that they will be launching a new commuter bike for the masses which would be priced in the Rs. 30,000 – 40,000/- price bracket. Currently Hero MotoCorp leads in this segment and has a 70 percent market share with Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) having a small 4.7 percent share. Honda is determined to change this by introduction of the new budget motorcycle which will give tough competition to its ex-partner, Hero MotoCorp.
Hero MotoCorp’s current cheapest bike is the HP Dawn which retails at Rs. 36,600/- while Honda’s cheapest bike is the Dream Yuga priced at Rs. 44,657/-. With two thirds of motorcycle sales in India coming from this, low displacement, mass market bike segment, it is imperative for Honda to enter this low cost bike market to gain better sales. Honda has thus set up a technical facility in Manesar where they are indigenously developing this bike.
More than 200 Honda engineers are working on the budget bike to make it as competent and as cost effective as possible. India has become a very important market for the Japanese bike manufacturer to get high volume sales and profits. The sales of Honda in the mass market bikes doubled this year with the introduction of the Dream Yuga while the sales of Hero MotoCorp dipped by 3 percent in the same time frame. Honda will now concentrate on launching many new low cost and efficient products for India.
Source – Business Standard