HMSI’s future plans detailed, sets sight on motorcycle sales dominance
Reigning King of the Scooter segment and India’s number-two two-wheeler manufacturer is hungry again.
Not wanting to rest on its laurels, the Japanese major has some ambitious plans in store for India. Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI) has now set its sights on winning the top honours in the motorcycles segment as well.
Honda went on to gain an unassailable lead in the scooters segment with their best-selling Activa in the five years that passed after dissolving their two and a half decade old joint-venture with Hero MotoCorp. The latter on the other hand is firmly entrenched at the top of the motorcycle segment, buoyed by the evergreen Splendor range of 100-125cc machines.
Talking numbers, HMSI holds a 27% share in the market, with a wide gap to the leader, Hero MotoCorp. While it does hold a commanding 57% share of the scooters pie, the Japanese manufacturer is aware of the danger in being a single segment dominator. This is why, it is pulling out all stops to expand upon its 15% share of the motorcycle sales pie. But the company isn’t going to ape the competition in a bid to market leadership.
Honda is placing its bets in favour of the youth, which place greater weightage to the design of their products and seek a sportier, fun-to-ride element in their motorcycles. The recently launched CB Hornet 160R is a step towards the same direction, with the manufacturer aiming to make an impression amongst the urban as well as semi-urban audiences. This is a marked change in strategy from their old, joint-venture days and the excitement in the new line of products is palpable.
Meanwhile, the Japanese major is gearing up to export the CB Hornet to South Africa. While the focus will continue to be on augmenting domestic sales, HMSI is also preparing a backup plan of sorts, to shore up the numbers, in-case, domestic sales do take some time to match up to their projections.
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