Honda's largest 2-wheeler plant in Kolar

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt Ltd (HMSI) on Wednesday commissioned its fourth assembly line at Narasapura facility, some 50 km from Bengaluru, making it the largest production hub for Honda’s two-wheeler operations globally for the first time.

With the new capacity expansion, HMSI has created two global records. First, the Narasapura plant is now the world’s largest two-wheeler plant of Honda. Second, this expansion has pushed India to the top slot in two-wheeler production base for Honda worldwide.

HMSI, together with 26 allied suppliers, has invested a cumulative Rs 5,400 crore in the Narasapura plant. The fourth assembly line has a capacity to produce six lakh units per year, taking the total production capacity to 24 lakh units. The new assembly line will provide direct employment to 7,000 people and another 15,000 jobs indirectly.

With this, the combined production capacity from four plants in India has gone up to 64 lakh units per year, thereby overtaking the Indonesian facility, which has a capacity to produce 58 lakh units per annum, said Shinji Aoyama, regional operations chief officer, Honda Motor Co (Asia and Oceania). The region contributes 60% to Honda’s global two-wheeler sales

“Honda’s two-wheeler business spans more than 120 countries worldwide and India is leading the demand. In FY17, India alone accounted for 28% of Honda’s global two-wheeler sales and became number one contributor to its two-wheeler business,” Aoyama said.

Commenting on India aspiration, Aoyama said HMSI aims to be the top two-wheeler manufacturer in India by 2020. “The year 2020 can be a possible year to become number one. We also have a competitive advantage over rivals when India adopts the stringent BS-VI emission norms,” he said.

Interacting with DH, HMSI president and CEO Minoru Kato said the company will focus on the mass segment with an eye on the premium segment. “We are successful in India because of our mass segment products. But considering growing aspirational Indians, we will come up with more premium products designed and developed for India,” he said.

HMSI has CBR 659, Africa Twin, CB 1000R, CBR 1000RR and Goldwing in the premium category in India.

Honda’s other three plants are located at Manesar in Haryana, Tapukara in Rajasthan and in Gujarat.