Honda Two-Wheelers Targets 5.43 Million Annual Sales

Honda has raised its ambitions in India and is targeting sales of 5.43 million units in this financial year. The company became India’s largest scooter exporter in the previous fiscal and will be banking on scooter production at its new plant in Gujarat, while raising the roll-out capacity at its three other factories, as per a report by ET Auto.

"For the first time we will be crossing 5 million units in a year in India," said Yadvinder Singh Guleria, senior vice president, sales & marketing, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India. "This will include growing contribution from our new scooter plant in Gujarat," he added. Line 1 in the company’s Gujarat plan went on full stream three months ago and it has already reached a full capacity of 50,000 units a month. Come July and the second line will also be operational, adding another 50,000 units per month. This should help clear the backlog the brand is facing in scooter deliveries.

A large share of sales will be attributed to automatic scooters, which have been gaining popularity even in rural markets, where geared motorcycles have been more sought after thus far. The Honda Activa for example, clocked record-breaking sales of 1 million units in the first 5 months of FY 2015-16 and the model continues to dominate the segment outright.

Honda is already investing Rs 585 crore to add a new production line to its plant in Narsapura, Karnataka. The new production line will add 6 lakh units and increase the total annual production capacity to 2.4 million units before the end of 2016. The brand’s overall annual production levels will grow to 6.4 million units, with plans in place to add 800-850 touch points to its network this financial year.