Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) aims to become the number one player in the Indian two-wheeler market by 2020, surpassing the current holder of that title and its former joint-venture partner, Hero MotoCorp. To achieve this goal, they are considering adding a third assembly line for motorcycle manufacturing at their Gujarat plant.
HMSI’s Gujarat plant, inaugurated in February 2016, currently manufactures only Honda scooters; the two assembly lines produce 12 lakh units annually. With the two lines are already running at full capacity, owing to robust demand for the Activa and Dio scooters, a third line may be added for manufacturing motorcycles.
HMSI may also consider a new greenfield plant exclusively for motorcycle manufacturing if it sees the potential for justifiably high volumes. However, until then, the only one of its four plants that can accommodate a new manufacturing line is the one in Gujarat.
Even though the Honda Shine is currently the highest selling bike in the 125cc class, and has been for quite a while, HMSI’s focus will be on this segment. In a bid to close the gap with Hero MotoCorp in overall sales, HMSI, while acknowledging growth potential in both the motorcycle and scooter segments, believes extending its lead in the former would be the way to go. HMSI currently commands only around 17 percent of the Indian motorcycle market, but its share of the scooter market is a hefty 59 percent.