Honda's high hopes for India
The company has ambitious plans to make the world's second most populous nation its sales king pin in the next five yearsHonda has targeted India to be its top two-wheeler market in the world within the next five years.
“India has the potential in the near future to be the largest business operation for our bikes and scooters globally,” Mr Shinji Aoyama, the outgoing President & CEO of Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, told Business Line
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Honda’s ‘lost’ nearly five million units in India last year, but the majority of that was due to the fact that it dissolved a 26-year joint venture with Hero.
Its 100 per cent subsidiary HMSI will end this fiscal year at a little over 1.6 million units, going up to 2.2 million units in 2011-12 – which would still leave it trailing Hero, Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor.
“Our R&D capacity in India will be strengthened so that Honda can act faster and become more responsive to the needs of customers,” Mr Aoyama said. “By the end of this decade, India could hopefully account for half the output of Honda's bikes and scooters.
“It is our most important market and we will accelerate activity in Japan to improve our presence here.
“Honda always keeps quality as its top priority and it is difficult to meet the existing pricing structure in China. However, this is not the case in India where people appreciate our quality and are willing to pay a price for it.”
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