Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) aims to become the number one manufacturer in the Indian two-wheeler market by 2020, surpassing the current holder of that title, Hero MotoCorp. To achieve this target, the company is considering adding a third assembly line for motorcycle manufacturing at their Gujarat plant.
The Gujarat plant currently manufactures only Honda Scooters; the two assembly lines produce 12 lakh units yearly. At the moment, the two lines are running at full capacity, because of the huge demand for the Activa. HMSI may also consider a new Greenfield plant only for motorcycle manufacturing if it sees the potential for high volumes. However, until then, only the Gujarat plant can house a new manufacturing line out of the four.
In terms of sales, the Honda Shine is currently the highest selling bike in the 125cc class. Honda’s focus will be to keep this going and to stay on top of the game in this class. Currently, Honda commands only around 17 percent of the Indian motorcycle market, but its share of the scooter market is a huge 59 percent.