Opinion: Honda’s final big push to become No 1?

The end of the 26-year Hero-Honda alliance was finalised all the way back in 2010, and you can be sure that Honda would have never imagined it would still be in number 2 position even in 2023. But, like I wrote in this space just last month, India is an incredibly challenging market, and some brands can develop an almost cult-like following, no matter how good the alternatives may be. 

Over the past decade, Honda’s Activa and Shine 125 have grown to unrivalled number one positions in the scooter market and 125cc market respectively. And yet, both of them collectively have not been able to break Hero’s supremacy that is largely down to just two bikes – the Splendor and HF Deluxe. 

So despite Honda steering clear of the cutthroat 100cc segment all these years, the company has finally yielded with the Shine 100. A brand new bike conceptualised with just one goal – to steal significant market share from the Heros, even if it can’t beat them.

The new Shine 100 is the clearest indicator in years of just how strongly Honda wants that number one spot. That’s visible in the introductory pricing because not only does this bike cost less than the Hero Splendor, it’s actually the most affordable motorcycle in the country with electric start. This is the first time that Honda has been willing to shed its premium positioning in India relative to similar rivals in the market. A Honda that costs less than the equivalent Bajaj, TVS and Hero? Who’d have thought!

Achieving this certainly wasn’t easy, even for a company that has already lowered the lofty standards of quality and finish it holds overseas to make the products it sells in India more cost effective. At the launch, Honda MD and CEO Atsushi Ogata told a select gathering of journalists about what a difficult task engineering the new Shine was, and how it involved immense back and forth between Honda’s RnD arms in India and Japan.

It explains why the company not only engineered a brand new engine, but also a completely different chassis for this bike. The reason it didn’t simply use a frame from one of the existing 110cc bikes was partly to make the Shine lighter, but also to reduce costs even further. 

Honda knows fully well that simply making an affordable motorcycle probably won’t be enough, even with its badges on the fuel tank. That’s why you see the second move of aggression – using the carefully cultivated Shine name for the smaller 100cc bike. That’s a risky move, as history with the Bajaj Discover family will remind you. But perhaps by making the Shine 100 look slimmer, smaller and more diminutive than the Shine 125, Honda will avoid dangerous levels of cannibalisation that will nullify the entire point of this exercise.  

Still, that number one position is now closer than it ever has been. In fact, in the last year, Honda got tantalisingly close a couple of times, but didn’t quite make the cut. Maybe the Shine 100 will be the last push Honda needs to finally conquer our market.