New Delhi: Japanese auto major Honda is undertaking an aggressive market expansion ride in the Indian two-wheeler segment with 15 new launches in the next fiscal year, while setting eyes on annual sales of 50 lakh units.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI), the company's wholly-owned arm, today launched a new version of its flagship scooter model Activa priced at Rs 48,852, while unveiling five new products. "In FY15-16, Honda is taking the next leap of business expansion. We will be bigger with new manufacturing capabilities and aggressively growing network in the hinterlands, better at customer satisfaction and bolder with our introduction of ever highest 15 new models in just one year," HMSI President & CEO Keita Muramatsu said.
Highlighting the significance of the market here, he said: "With India contribution reaching 25 per cent of global Honda motorcycle sales this year, India is and will remain Honda's priority market globally. However, I consider 50 lakh units to be the turning point of Honda in India."
The company has sold a total of 36,92,374 units in the April-January period of this fiscal, as against 30,01,414 units in year-ago period. HMSI Vice President Sales and Marketing Yadvinder S Guleria said in the ongoing fiscal the company is targetting a total sales of 45 lakh units. "Once our fourth factory (in Gujarat) comes up in January 2016, we will eventually cross the 50 lakh mark," he said while declining to put a timeline to achieve the target. "The aim is to consistently sell four lakh two-wheelers a month and once we do that we can chase bigger targets," Guleria added.
For 2015, he said starting with the launch of new CB Unicorn 160 in January, HMSI has already introduced six new offerings in just two months. Apart from the new Activa, there will be 2015 editions of bikes Dream Yuga and Dream Neo and scooter Dio apart from a new CB Shine motorcycle. HMSI is investing Rs 1,000 crore to set up the plant at Gujarat that will have an annual capacity of 1.2 million units. It will have a total annual production capacity of 5.8 million when the Gujarat plant goes on full steam.
It currently has three plants at Manesar (Haryana), Tapukara (Rajasthan) and Narsapura (Karnataka).
