HMSI or Honda Scooters and Motorcycles India Ltd. was more focussed on its popular gearless scooters Honda Activa and Honda Aviator in India produces in its Manesar plant near Gurgaon in north India. The production capacity of Manesar Plant is 16 Lakh two wheelers per year and the second plant of Honda which is under development at Alwar Rajasthan is about to start in July 2011 with an initial capacity of 6 Lakh units per year which will be further increased to 12 Lakhs units once the plant reaches full capacity by March 2012. Honda has also decided to develop a third plant which will become operational in 2013 adding another 12 Lakh units capacity per year. The third plant will be located in south India in Karnataka state which will also help reduce the shipping cost of Honda two wheelers to southern parts of the country. This will make the effective capacity of HMSI about 40 Lakh units per year by year 2013 which is 333% of its existing capacity of 12 Lakh units per year!
After Hero Honda Split, Honda Motorcycles have started focusing on the Motorcycles market more seriously and aggressively, this capacity expansion is a part of HMSI’s plan to capture a larger share of the huge motorcycles market which exists in India. Honda will also add about 100 more dealerships in its network this year to help market and increase sales of Honda bikes in India. Hero Moto (formerly Hero Honda) looks like the biggest competition to HMSI as it’s the largest fish in the pond of the India motorcycle market.
Honda has good quality refined motorcycles which deliver good performance with good mileage, one problem however being the shortage of spares which is reported from time to time by many users. I hope that HMSI will be able to address these challenges and will make its place in Indian market in coming years. Lets wait and watch the developments as they happen.
source- Motoroids
