HMSI plans to start a new production facility in east India

Honda Motorcycle and scooter India(HMSI), the wholly owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Co of Japan, may consider locating its fifth plant in eastern India. Though the company is yet to take a call on the next facility, HMSI president & CEO Keita Muramatsu hinted at venturing next into the east having established manufacturing units in the north, west and south. "We currently have three plants that are operating full-steam. The first with a capacity of 1.6 million units is at Manesar in Gurgaon, Haryana. The second with 1.2 million units capacity is at Tapukara in Alwar, Rajasthan. The third unit has a capacity of 1.8 million units and is located at Narsapuram in Kolar, Karnataka. All three plants have flexible assembly lines and manufacture both scooters and motorcycles. The fourth plant is currently under construction and will be ready by February-March 2016 at Vithalpur in Gujarat. The plant will manufacture only scooters. Once it is commissioned, we will have an even spread of motorcycle and scooter supply to the north, west and south from the plants. East is the only region where we do not have a presence for supply to the region and the north-east," he told TOI.

Once the Gujarat plant becomes operational, HMSI will also tweak the product mix at the other three plants to churn out more motorcycles from them as the fourth plant is dedicated for scooters. Acknowledging that the company needed to produce more motorcycles to grab a larger pie of the two-wheeler market, Muramatsu said the company would first strive to alter its product mix to make as many motorcycles as scooters by next year-end. Ever since its inception in 2001-02, HMSI has consistently sold more scooters than motorcycles though three motorcycles are sold for every scooter in the country. In 2013-14, the company sold 19.55 lakh scooters against 17.67 lakh motorcycles. During April 2014-January 2015, Honda's marketshare was pegged at 26.2% against market leader Hero's share of 40.3%. TVS was at No. 3 with 13.2% followed by Bajaj at 11.3%.

To keep chipping into Hero's marketshare, its former joint venture partner turned rival will launch 15 products this year including seven brand new models and eight refreshes. Of the seven new launches, four will be motorcycles. It has already launched two: CB Shine 125 and CB Unicorn 160 and has the CBR 650 F and another bike in the pipeline. In scooters, the company has revealed only one product: the Activa 3G. In refreshes, the entire Dream series including Dream Yuga, Dream Neo and Dream Deo will get cosmetic makeover. The company's current portfolio comprises five scooters and 11 motorcycles.