Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI) has announced that it will launch a Honda 160 cc bike in its business plan for the financial year 2014-15 at the 13th Annual Business Meet in Japan. The business meet was held in Japan with over 900 business partners, including dealers, distributors, transporters, stockists and Honda associates from India. According to the company, while the first motorcycle shall be the latest addition to the Dream series i.e. 110 cc, as Honda’s most affordable motorcycle in India, the second will be a sporty 160 cc high displacement motorcycle. The company aims to target youngsters in urban cities with an all-new 160 cc motorcycle which, the company claims will be stylish and sporty. The motorcycle will be launched by the second quarter of the present financial year and if these quarters confuse you, then that will fall between July and September of 2014.
“Sustaining its superior growth, HMSI has set the challenging target of 45 lakh unit sales in 2014-15,” said Keita Muramatsu, president and chief executive, HMSI. This surprise announcement surely will stir up the Indian two-wheeler market and make Honda’s competitors sit up and take notice, a serious one at that. The 160 cc segment is a more premium 150 cc segment which has players like the Apache 160 and Yamaha FZ series for now.
Though, apart from Unicorn, Honda’s other 150 cc have not been able to create the same magic their scooters are creating, the new 160 cc motorcycle should be an alarm for all the players playing in this premium segment. Chances are, that the Honda’s 160 cc bike may be based on the CX-01 concept which was showcased in the 2014 Indian Auto Expo. The concept was the showstopper in the bike gallery at the expo, so if at all the company adopts it, buyers will surely rush to the dealers.
Photos Gallery : Honda CX-01 Concept
Suzuki is almost all set to unleash their prowess in this segment with their stylish Gixxer which will be launched within a few months from now. The new updated Yamaha FZ-S is also set to hit the stores around the second half of this year. Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj is also coming up with their facelifted Xtreme and Discover in the 150 cc segment respectively later this summer. This premium 150-160 cc segment is going to see some intense action with quite a few interesting launches lined up for the year.
We will keep you posted on the developments of this bike, until then do let us know what you think of the move!
