Honda Working On Hero Splendor Rival

After enjoying continued success in the scooter category, Honda is now eyeing to reinforce its base in the lucrative commuter motorcycle segment. Speaking to a media house, Atsushi Ogata, President of Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI), has revealed the company will develop a motorcycle aimed to cater to the affordable bike segment. Here’s how we think Honda will approach this segment: 

A more fuel-efficient, tech-laden commuter:

The Honda CD110 Dream is currently the Japanese bikemaker’s most affordable motorcycle in the country, priced from Rs 66,033 (ex-showroom Delhi). Ogata admitted that the CD110 is relatively weak against its rivals, and that the company has not matched the demand of the customers in this particular segment. 

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The Honda CD110 Dream is a barebones motorcycle, and more importantly, the Dream range has not really been well-known for its efficiency as much as more popular commuters like the Hero Splendor. Honda could take a leaf out of Hero MotoCorp’s playbook and introduce technologies that are aimed to improve fuel efficiency. Honda has always had the upper hand in technology, and it would be prudent for the bikemaker to implement the Idling Stop System (start-stop tech) on the CD110 Dream. This will make the bike a more well-rounded proposition than before, and if Honda manages to keep the pricing more or less the same, it will have a fighting chance to draw customers away from the Hero Splendor. 

Or perhaps, a Honda Shine 110?

The Honda Livo and Dream series have never made as much of an impact as Honda’s other offerings such as the Unicorn and Shine. The Honda Shine has cemented its position as the best-selling bike in the 125cc segment. Honda could exploit the Shine’s brand recall and come up with a 110cc avatar, called the Honda Shine 110. Moreover, since Yamaha and Suzuki have exited the 100-110cc motorcycle segment, Honda is now the only Japanese company, as the space is dominated by Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, and TVS. While Hero rules the roost, other rivals still tally reasonably healthy sales in this segment. So, with the Honda Shine 110, the Japanese bikemaker should have an edge in this competitive category.

Honda did try other solutions including bringing out a small-sized, funky-looking yet affordable and efficient Honda Navi, but that didn’t exactly take off well either. Moreover, Honda’s scooter sales aren’t doing well of late. According to the SIAM report, the Honda Activa range (including the Honda Activa 6G and the Activa 125) tallied 1,402,357 units from April 2021 to January 2022, a drop of 8 percent compared to the same timeframe from 2020-2021. So, Honda will have to bank on commuter motorcycles now more than ever. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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