Honda to pump Rs 600 crore into Narasapura

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) plans to invest close to Rs 600 crore at its Narsapura plant which is the single largest manufacturing facility of Honda in the world, a top official said on Tuesday.

Talking to Deccan Herald, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Vice President, Narasapura Plant, Vinay Dhingra said, “The company is considering an investment of Rs 600 crore to enhance two-wheeler production capacity by the first quarter of 2017. As of now we have production capacity of 6,600 per day (1.8 million per year) with three production lines and we are currently at the peak volume.

“However, based on the demand a new production (fourth) line will be set within the existing plant site that will add six lakh units annually to take up the total capacity of the facility to 2.4 million units,” Dhingra added.

The company is contemplating to hire 1,700 staff with a mix of backgrounds in ITI, Diploma and BTech (majorly mechanical engineering). The company said that on an average, every seven seconds one bike is manufactured at the Honda plant. The plant is spread across 96 acres and with one more line added, 23 acres more will be utilised, he said.

From the Narasapura plant, five models namely CB Shine (1,500 units per day), Livo, Dream Yuga, and Dream Neo (together 1,400 units per day) and Activa (3,700 units per day) are manufactured.

Honda has 53 dealers in Karnataka, 10 in urban Bengaluru, and two in rural with a two-wheeler market share of 32 per cent in Karnataka.

The company’s two other plants are at Manesar in Haryana and Tapukara in Rajasthan.

Unveils CBR 650F

Meanwhile, HMSI launched its sports bike CBR 650F in India, priced at Rs 7.40 lakh (ex-showroom Bengaluru), as part of its plans to roll out 15 products this year.

The company is primarily assembling the bike at its Manesar plant. The CBR 650F will be sold in an exclusive sales-service shop-in-shop network of ‘Wing World’ dealerships across 12 cities.

“Localisation for this product is only five per cent. We are mainly assembling it here. Parts are mainly coming from Thailand and Japan,” HMSI President & CEO Keita Muramatsu said in a video conference.

The company also showcased its brand new 160cc bike CB Hornet 160R, and updated versions of CBR 250R, and CBR 150R models, which will make it to the market in the near future.