Chennai: Two wheeler manufacturer Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India's (HMSI) proposal to enter into the country's largest 100 cc motorcycle segment was on "the final stage" and the product would soon be unveiled, a company official said on Thursday.
The company which has presence in the 125cc under the Honda "Shine" and Honda "Stunner" and in the premium 150cc segment under Honda "Unicorn" brand would soon launch the 100 cc variant at the "Auto Expo" slated to be held next year in New Delhi, HMSI Vice-President and Operating Head (Purchase) Anupam Mohindroo told reporters here.
"We are going to launch a 100cc vehicle. It will be a different model", he said, declining to elaborate.
Stating that the plans for "unveiling" the vehicle were at the "final stage", Mohindroo said, "The company would showcase the motorcycle in the Auto Expo 2010".
He said the company had invested close to Rs 1000 crore
last fiscal for the overall development and it included the
manufacturing of their 100 cc motorcycle.
Apart from this investment, the company would also invest
another Rs 100 crore for increasing the capacity.
The total production was 10.70 lakh units which would be
ramped up to 12.50 lakh units this fiscal. "We then have
planned to take it up to 15.5 lakh units by April 2010-2011",
he said.
Mohindroo was here to unveil the company's upgraded
version of 110 cc scooter "Aviator".
Priced at Rs 43,938 (ex-showroom Chennai) for the
standard version and Rs 48,938 for the delux version, HMSI was
hoping to sell around 1.10 lakh units of Aviator this
fiscal, he said.
He said that the company was targeting a market share of
58 percent this fiscal. Currently the company has around 54
percent.
Stating that the company was selling four lakh units in
south zone, HMSI Regional Manager (South) P Rajagopi said that
they would increase their dealer network from the present 640
outlets to 750 in this financial year.
He said that the company had set a target of selling
55,000 units (both motorcycles and scooters) in overseas
market as compared to 54,000 units last year.
He said since the launch of new Aviator they are hoping
to reach around 8,000 units this month. To a query he said
that they would also phase out the existing model.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), bike sales
dipped by 46.56 percent at 17,932 units in October from
33,558 units in the year-ago period due to labour issues
hitting the company since August. HMSI's sales also dipped
40.84 percent at 35,486 units against 59,988 units in the
same month last year.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, November 26, 2009, 17:22