Pressure is mounting on Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India, India's fourth biggest two-wheeler maker by volume, to resume normal supplies of scooters and motorcycles to its dealers, who are forced to ask customers to wait for up to four-five months for delivery.
When it comes to electric cars, the electric dream is turning out to be a six-letter word starting with f, ending with y, and having antas in between, notes Suveen Sinha.
Honda is all set to launch the CBR650F alongwith mutliple other motorcycles at the Honda RevFest 2015 that will be held simultaneously across 8 cities (New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Indore and Ahmedabad) on August 4, 2015.
'The biggest turning point in Ashwin's career was when he switched to bowling off-spin. And I must thank my wife Chitra for that decision.'
Reflecting the woes of the Indian automobile industry, the country's car exports remained flat at 550,466 units in 2013-14, during which domestic sales fell for the second consecutive year.
Domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales saw a significant growth in October due to increased availability of semiconductor chips and rising consumer confidence. The sales figures during the month - which coincided with the first post-Covid festival season - released by the top ten carmakers saw a jump of 30.7 per cent to 322,885 units in October. Auto companies count wholesales - units dispatched to dealers - as sales.
The Mumbai-based company will take on Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto and HMSI and will have models in the 100cc, 125cc and 150cc mobike segments, and also in the ungeared low and high-powered scooter segments. Hero Honda has a 60 per cent share of the motorcycle segment, while HMSI commands a 58 per cent of the scooter market. Anand Mahindra said: "Our two-wheeler project is complete; we have already begun marketing the fleet in Bangalore."
The electric Chetak has already sold close to 25,000 units in India, and the European version will be based on the same platform.
Smaller players manufacturing electric two-wheelers (E2Ws) are unlikely to raise prices of their models initially in 2024 in order to ensure volumes do not drop. The prices of E2Ws range from Rs 90,000 to Rs 1 lakh, the players being Lohia Auto, Godawari Electric, Emobi, etc. As India's E2W sector gears up to go past one million in 2024, manufacturers are likely to maintain price stability, underpinned by strategic independence from subsidies under Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric (and Hybrid) Vehicles II (FAME II), localisation efforts, sustainability initiatives, and a focus on affordability.
Ola Electric will roll out its complete offering of electric scooters and motorcycles in each segment of the market - premium, mass premium, and economical - in the next 12 months in a bid to push for a near-full conversion of the two-wheeler market to electric in three years. According to Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Ola Electric, "ICE (internal combustion engine) products will fall off a cliff." He also says the company is aiming to become profitable next year.
Motorcycle production has been suspended at the Manesar plant of Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, which is in the midst of a major labour unrest.
Bhavish Aggarwal, the founder of ride-hailing firm Ola who disrupted the electric scooters market in the country, is planning to launch an electric sports car in 2024. The plan will put it in competition with Indian players, such as the Tata group and Mahindra & Mahindra, and global giants like Tesla and Hyundai. Aggarwal, recently, took a group of reporters to the firm's design studio at the Ola campus in Bengaluru where his teams are working on several EVs, including scooters, motorcycles, sedans, and SUVs - and even robotaxis.
Passenger vehicle wholesales in India increased by 17 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal year as buying sentiment improved and companies stocked up to cater to enhanced demand in the festive season, auto industry body SIAM said on Friday. According to the latest data by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), passenger vehicles sales in the July-September quarter increased to 726,232 units from 620,620 units in the same period last year. Similarly, two-wheeler sales during the September quarter this fiscal rose marginally to 46,90,565 units as compared with 46,82,571 units in the same period last fiscal. However, commercial vehicles sales saw a dip of 20.13 per cent at 133,524 units in the quarter under review as compared with 167,173 units in July-September 2019.
There could be some significant changes in motorcycles over the next few years says Shobhana Subramanian.
The scarcity of resources is particularly evident in the case of Rajasthan compared to many other states.
'Our objective is to reach a localisation rate of 50% in the span of five years.'
Delhi-based Honda is increasing its focus on the entry level segment. So much so that it has put the potential launch of a big engine premium concept bike, the CX-01, on the back burner.
The interim budget 2024-24 on Thursday allocated Rs 1,277.80 crore for census, a significant reduction from 2021-22 when Rs 3,768 crore was allocated and an indication that the exercise may not be carried out even after three years of delay.
It's already a home to automobile majors like Toyota, Volvo, Tata Motors and Mahindra Reva.
Mopeds are sought by people with smaller businesses, with their weight-carrying and haulage ability beside being lighter and easy to manoeuvre in traffic.
Auto component makers in India are bracing for a tough time. High absenteeism among workers owing to Covid-19, shortages of critical parts, and temporary closures of plants by automobile manufacturers have thrown a spanner in the works for the Rs 3.2-trillion sector, which derives 60 per cent of its revenues from automobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), with the balance split equally between replacement demand and exports. Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India on Saturday said it was extending the maintenance shutdown, which was from May 1 to 9, till May 16, "keeping in view the current pandemic situation". Some activities will continue in the plants.
Nearly a decade ago, the first fully electric vehicle (EV) caught fire on the road in the US. It was a model from Tesla, the world's most admired EV maker. A metal fragment punctured the underbelly of the vehicle, penetrating its battery pack, leading to a fire. Indian lawmakers and automakers have had nine years to study the incident (in fact, three Tesla Model Ss caught fire in two months in 2013) but seem to have learnt little.
Passenger vehicle wholesales in India increased by 12.73 per cent to 285,367 units in November as against 253,139 units in the same month last year riding on the back of festive demand, auto industry body SIAM said on Friday. According to the latest data by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), two-wheeler sales rose 13.43 per cent to 16,00,379 units, compared with 14,10,939 units in the same month last year.
Two-wheeler sales were down 15.24 per cent in July to 12,81,354 units as compared with 15,11,717 units in the same month last year.
A sneak peek at Honda's latest premium commuter bike: CB Trigger
Post split from Hero, the company has chalked out aggressive plans for India.
According to sources in the know, nearly 25,000 workers from Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, Suzuki Powertrain India, Gurgaon-based Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union, Suzuki Motorcycle India, Sona Koyo Steering Systems, etc, filed a memorandum before Deputy Commissioner P C Meena.
HMSI has increased the monthly salary of its permanent workers by Rs 14,770 a month.
Foxconn means serious business in India. Its delegation to India was led by its Chairman Young Liu who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The BS-VI norms are expected to increase the price of two-wheelers by 10-14 per cent.
For the past 15 days, workers at the Hero factory have been wearing black arm-bands and abstaining from tea within the premises.
It has sought the permission of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to start single-brand retail outlets.
At Rs 43,150, Dream Neo hopes to create deep inroads into the Indian commuter segment.
'In FY23, PV sales are expected to end the year at a record 3.8 million units, up 26 per cent. In FY24, however, the industry is expecting 5-7 per cent volume growth'
India's electric two-wheeler (E2W) sector is expected to cross the one million mark in 2024 fuelled by rising demand, increased production, and affordability, industry experts said, even as several original equipment makers are expanding their penetration to rural areas. Improved battery technology and innovative features are also likely to fuel growth, they said. "E2W sales will breach the 1-million mark in 2024 as the demand for electric two-wheelers is expected to continue growing due to factors such as environmental awareness, government incentives, and improvements in technology," Hyder Khan, chief executive officer (CEO), Godawari Electric Motors, said.
The Honda NAVI is completely customisable as per the customer's choice.
Passenger vehicle wholesale in India increased by 14.19 per cent to 3,10,294 units in October against 2,71,737 units in the same month last year as companies despatched more units to dealers to cater to enhanced demand in the festive season, auto industry body SIAM said on Wednesday. According to the latest data by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), two-wheeler sales also rose 16.88 per cent to 20,53,814 units, compared with 17,57,180 units in the same month last year. Motorcycle sales were at 13,82,749 units as against 11,16,886 units in October 2019, up 23.8 per cent.
As per SIAM data, vehicle sales across categories, including passenger vehicles and two-wheelers and commercial vehicles stood at 18,21,490 units last month as against 23,82,436 units in August 2018, a fall of 23.55 per cent.
