The Honda Activa has been one of the most successful scooters in the Indian market since its launch. In an interview with our sister publication, Autocar Professional, Yadvinder Singh Guleria, senior vice-president and operating head - Sales and Marketing, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), revealed that the company is working on an update to make the popular scooter BS-VI compliant.
In FY2019, HMSI saw a 4 percent drop in sales of its bestselling Activa scooter and sold around 3,008,334 units, as compared to 3,154,030 units in FY2018. Responding to Autocar Professional on whether the Activa is feeling the heat from the competition, Guleria said, "Even after declining 4 percent, it still emerged at the top of the Indian two-wheeler market at a time when more 100cc scooters were selling than ever before."
"Having said that, we do recognise that there are changing dynamics and new evolving customer needs. Since our customers have stood by us for so long, now it is time for us to give them back – I would say, just wait for the next Activa!"
Without disclosing any timeline for the launch of the new Activa, Guleria said scooter aficionados can maintain high expectations from the new product and that the company is closely monitoring new feature trends in the market. This includes a high level of connectivity.
Guleria said, "Connectivity is one of the things (on the new Activa). Similarly, there are many other new features that the customer might not be aware of and could come as a surprise. I would like to tell them, ‘Please wait for those surprises!’"
Considering that Honda is set to revamp its entire model line-up, it could be expected that it launches the next-generation Activa sometime in early 2020, in order to make the next avatar of the popular scooter readily available for retail across the country by April. So, if you thought scooters were taking the slow lane to growth in the next few years, think again.
Suraj Sreekumar
Stephen Raj Antony
Dinshaw Magol
