Honda Motor is planning a bevy of 100cc bike models in India, as part of its strategy to be a leader in the two-wheeler market by 2020.
This comes about a year-and-a-half after it separated with erstwhile partner, Hero Group, to concentrate on its wholly-owned domestic subsidiary. India is currently the second-largest two-wheeler market after China.
“Using further growth in emerging markets, where continuous expansion is expected, as a driving force, Honda will continue to be proactive in evolving its motorcycle business.
“In India, Honda will strive to further grow its motorcycle business through introduction of highly competitive models in the 100cc segment, which is the largest segment in the motorcycle market,” Honda Motor Global CEO, Takanobu Ito, said in a speech in Tokyo.
The new models are likely to be based on the Dream Yuga platform, which was launched in May.
Incidentally, Honda has been the only major player to post strong growth in the last few months – 39 per cent and 57 per cent in August and July, respectively.
In these two months, market leader Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj and TVS have also seen a drop in demand and build-up of inventories. The Japanese firm is also rapidly expanding output.
With two plants operational in Manesar and Tapukara, a third near Bangalore is expected to start production in the first half of next year, taking total annual capacity to 4 million units from 2.8 million.
Sources said that a fourth and fifth plant is also in the works, one of which is likely to come up in Gujarat.