Honda’s new strategy could spawn out more new scooters in India; targets 75 cc-110 cc two-wheeler segment
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) is currently the second biggest two-wheeler manufacturer of India and the brand is ambitious to snatch away the pole position by 2020 from Hero MotoCorp. In a bid to make the dream successful, Honda is focusing on scooter category instead of motorcycles. Under its new strategy, we might see the brand rolling out more new scooters in domestic market in coming years.
Hero MotoCorp presently holds the pole position in Indian two-wheeler market with its range of mass market commuter products. On the other hand, despite being the number one player in scooter segment, Honda is far behind than Hero in terms of volume sales. In this scenario, the Japanese brand wants to increase scooter sales in order to close the gap.
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Presently, Honda has 30% of market share in Indian two-wheeler market. In 17 states across the country, Honda sits at the top of sales chart. But that’s not enough to grab the overall pole position in a highly competitive market. However, the brand’s revised strategy and increasing demand for scooters in the country could change the game in near future.
In between April and November this year, Hero MotoCorp sold 37,34,247 units in 75-110 cc Indian two-wheeler market. On the other hand, Honda sold 394,730 units during the same period. While Honda leads the 90-125 cc scooter segment by 20 lakh units, it lags behind Hero MotoCorp by 13 lakh units in the commuter motorcycle category.
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Despite increasing demand for scooters in the country, Indian two-wheeler market is still led by the commuter motorcycle segment. This is the space, Honda is concerned about and to overcome the problem, the brand is keen to boost its scooter sales.
While Honda already sells popular scooters like Activa range in India, it is focusing more on premium scooters that have a strong demand in urban areas among the young age buyers. Apart from that, it is also aiming on bringing models similar to the Navi and Cliq.