In April 2013 Honda saw its larges monthly sales figure of 2,59,560 units, a growth of 51 per cent compared to the same period last year. This came at a time the country’s largest bike maker Hero experienced a 9.51 per cent fall and the number three Bajaj had a drop of 10 per cent. Its increasingly popular bikes has forced the bike maker to increase its production capacity, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter Indian (HMSI) today announced the inauguration of its new factory at Narsapura – 52 km from Bangalore, Karnataka.
The plant will start operation from June 2013, and in the first phase it will churn out 12 lakh bikes/scooters annually. By the end of 2014, the plant’s production capacity would have increased by 6 lakh, the total capacity will be 18 lakh units annually. This will bring the total capacity of the all the three plants combined to 46,00,000 (46 Lakh) units.
“With the inauguration of our 3rd plant which is 2,200 km from the two existing plants in North region, Honda aims to deliver high quality and advanced motorcycle products to the customers faster in the South region,” said Mr. Keita Muramatsu, President & CEO, HMSI.
” We shall start the mass production of Dream Yuga in this plant from June, which is targeted to cater 100-110 cc motorcycle segment contributing almost half of the total 1.4 crore motorcycles sold in India. Moreover, our million selling Activa scooter will be produced on the 2nd line,” said Mr. Yadvinder Singh Guleria, VP Sales & Marketing, HMSI.
The plant at Narsapura is the third plant HMSI has opened in the country, the other two are located at Manesar, Haryana and Tapukara, Rajasthan. Made with a total investment of Rs. 1350 crore, it is spread across 96 acres and employs approximately 4500 people. Honda says that the Narsapura plant is more advanced, efficient and greener than the other two plants; Newer and faster machines, robotic welding and painting arms and high speed transfer will increase product quality and reduce production times.
