 GURGAON: Riding high on the success of its scooter and motorcycle portfolio, Japan's Honda Motor has said it will edge past erstwhile partner Hero MotoCorp of Munjals by 2015 — five years earlier than scheduled — to become the top two-wheeler seller in India. Honda, which operates here through a fully-owned subsidiary Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), plans to beef up its portfolio of entry-level sub-125cc bikes in the coming years to take on Hero's formidable duo of Splendor and Passion models that account for the majority of sales of the Indian company, Shinji Aoyama, former HMSI head and now operating officer for motorcycle business (based out of Japan), said here. "Under the current scenario in India, I believe it will not be 2020, but even 2016 or 2015 by when we will attain number one position here," Aoyama said after launching a new 150cc bike, CB Trigger. While the gap between Hero MotoCorp and second biggest two-wheeler maker HMSI is still substantial in terms of absolute volumes (Hero sold 54.61 lakh units in April-February 2012-13 against HMSI's 23.66 lakh), HMSI has been growing at a high double-digit growth rate over the past few years even as rivals are now in the negative.Aoyama said Honda's exit from Hero Honda, the erstwhile JV with the Munjals, has had no impact on the company's operations here through HMSI. "When we separated from Hero, we were quite sure (that) we can take more of Indian customers to gain market share. Indian customers have confidence in our products and technology and a product with the 'Honda' name is sold more here." Honda, which virtually revived the scooter market in India with models like Activa after the exit of Bajaj Auto from the segment, has also been getting aggressive in the motorcycle segment, especially after the split with Hero in early 2011. The company last year drove in the 110cc Dream Yuga motorcycle to lure buyers of Hero's Splendor and Passion models and even those of Bajaj's Discover and Pulsar range. "I think we require at least two to three new models in the range," Aoyama said, when asked whether HMSI would be looking at multiple product options in the big-volume sub-125cc segment. Apart from the Dream Yuga, the company sells the 110cc CB Twister in the segment. Against the negative growth experienced by domestic players — Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto and TVS — HMSI has seen sales grow 33% this fiscal (April-February 2012-13) and the company is close to starting production from a third factory within three months (in Karnataka). Hero is down by 1% in the same period, while Bajaj by 3% and TVS by 6%. Aoyama, however, added that the current slowdown in the two-wheeler market will assist HMSI in getting an early lead over Hero MotoCorp. "But if it starts growing fast, then catching Hero gets difficult as they have more (production) capacity, which is an advantage for them." HMSI will have a capacity of 42 lakh units annually once it starts production from Karnataka, and Aoyama said the company has plans for more factories in the future. Hero currently has a capacity of 65 lakh units, and plans to increase this to 1 crore units by 2017-18. Aoyama also said HMSI can explore to get in a low-cost brand of Honda to India, though not much headway has been made as of now.  via Business - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNF7hpZCoqcY8DmKmWW0Yu3nzPzVXA&url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Honda-hopes-to-overtake-Honda-Motor-by-2015/articleshow/18920698.cms | |||
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Monday, 11 March 2013
Honda hopes to overtake Honda Motor by 2015 - Times of India
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