Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) on Wednesday forayed into the fast-growing domestic electric mobility market with the introduction of e-scooters, ACTIVA e: and QC1, with swappable and fixed batteries. With this, the Japanese two-wheeler maker will now be competing with other legacy players such as Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, TVS Group as well as pure EV players like Ather and Ola, who already have a good presence in the segment, which is growing at 34 per cent year-on-year.
Long standing number two passenger vehicle maker in India, Hyundai Motor India, has slipped to fourth position in the domestic market in terms of retail sales last month behind Maruti Suzuki India, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors, as per the latest data shared by dealer's body FADA. Hyundai Motor India clocked retail sales of 38,156 units last month, a dip of 20 per cent as compared with 47,540 units in February last year.
The strike, however, had no impact on production of auto majors Maruti Suzuki India, Hero MotoCorp, Honda Cars India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and Hyundai Motors India as their plants in various parts of the country functioned normally.
The battle for the top spot in the two-wheeler market is intensifying. The gap between Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) in retail sales narrowed to just 45,607 units in June. This improvement comes as HMSI has clawed back market share after dipping to a historic low of 18 per cent in May 2023. Now, the retail market shares of the two companies are 28.86 per cent and 25.54 per cent, respectively, compared to 35.54 per cent and 18.05 per cent in May 2023.
For the first time, the event will take place across three locations in Delhi: Bharat Mandapam at Pragati Maidan, Yashobhoomi Convention Centre at Dwarka, and India Expo Mart at Greater Noida.
The company is looking to ramp up its production.
However, while Splendor's annual sales surged 31.7 per cent to 3.638 million units between 2019 and 2024, Hero's other models suffered sharp drops.
While the company has not disclosed the exact price, the new bike is expected to be tagged around Rs 42,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi).
Hero MotoCorp, India's largest two-wheeler maker, has seen a decline in its market share in rural areas since 2018, losing ground to major competitors such as TVS Motor Company, Bajaj Auto, and Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI), according to data from JATO Dynamics reviewed by Business Standard. Hero's share of rural two-wheeler sales in India has dropped from 40.4 per cent in 2018 to 33.3 per cent in 2023. In contrast, Bajaj's share increased from 12.7 per cent in 2018 to 13.9 per cent, HMSI's from 21.8 per cent to 22.2 per cent, and TVS' from 15.5 per cent to 17.8 per cent. Suzuki Motorcycle India has also seen its share rise from 1.7 per cent to 2.5 per cent.
Leading carmakers Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai on Thursday reported a dip in wholesales in July as companies reduced vehicle dispatches to dealers amid moderation in demand. Maruti Suzuki India said its total domestic passenger vehicle sales stood at 137,463 units in July against 152,126 units in the year-ago month, down 9.64 per cent.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), India's second-largest two-wheeler maker, on Wednesday revealed its electric vehicle (EV) roadmap, which includes setting up a dedicated EV factory, launching the first two EVs in 2023-24, and establishing 6,000 battery exchange points in the country. HMSI plans to establish a specialised unit for the manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs), named 'Factory E', at its Narsapura plant located in Karnataka. Factory E will be created by converting an existing production line that currently manufactures internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, said Atsushi Ogata, HMSI managing director and chief executive officer.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), the country's second-largest two-wheeler manufacturer, is planning to launch its first electric vehicle (EV) here by March next year, said CEO & MD Atsushi Ogata on Monday. The company would also enter the low-end motorcycle market in March by launching a 100cc engine bike at a price that will "positively shock" customers, he said while speaking with reporters, after launching the Activa with Honda Smart Key. HMSI's first EV, an electric scooter, will have a fixed battery and the second model will have two swappable batteries, Ogata explained.
The local arm of the Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer accounts for every second scooter sold in India.
Passenger vehicle wholesales in India rose to a record high in October as companies pushed dispatches to dealers to cater to the enhanced demand in the festive season. The overall passenger vehicle wholesales in October rose to 391,472 units, up 16 per cent from 336,679 units in the same month last year. Last month witnessed the highest-ever dispatches of passenger vehicles in the domestic market by Maruti Suzuki India and Mahindra & Mahindra.
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.
Alleging misconduct by its permanent workers, labour unions and contract staff, the plant management informed all stakeholders, through a notice, that starting Monday "normal operations" at the plant are being suspended.
'The fundamentals look strong, but we will have to see if they translate into actual demand.' 'Because the April-May marriage season didn't see much sales due to the lockdown.'
"We sold 16.85 lakh units in FY 2011. In the current fiscal, we plan to increase it to 21 lakh units. We will continue to grow faster than industry. The turnover is also expected to jump to Rs 7,500 crore (Rs 75 billion) this year," company head sales N K Rattan said in New Delhi at the launch of the bike CBR 250R.
The BS-VI norms are expected to increase the price of two-wheelers by 10-14 per cent.
'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'
Take out Maruti Suzuki and Honda, and the auto sector's prospects suddenly don't look all that rosy.
The recall will cover units of the three models manufactured from February 7, 2018, to March 16, 2018, the company said in a statement.
HMSI is the biggest player in scooter market with a share of 60 per cent
The Honda NAVI is completely customisable as per the customer's choice.
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HMSI is likely to announce a tie-up with Snapdeal for online two-wheeler sales next month.
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Besides regular buyers, there is lot of interest among those in essential services, such as health, banking, and IT. The sales will be helped by social distancing becoming the new normal in both urban and rural regions as people will be averse to using public transport.
Hero MotoCorp sold 254,813 Splendors, about 4,000 more than the 250,681 Activas sold by its rival Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India.
The electric scooter juggernaut which has been picking up momentum with heady growth month-on-month is now slowing down. The combined number of registrations in April of eight electric two wheeler companies has seen a dip of over 1 per cent to 43,061 vehicles, according to data from the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways' site VAHAN. The reasons are the continuing shortage of chips, especially after the Ukraine-Russia war, and the spate of fires which have led to scooters being recalled by manufacturers.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt Ltd (HMSI) will set up its second plant in Rajasthan at an investment of Rs 1,100 crore (Rs 11 billion) with an installed capacity to produce 12 lakh units per annum.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI), the wholly-owned two-wheeler subsidiary of Japan's Honda Motor Company, on Wednesday launched its new 'Aviator' model scooter with 15 per cent increased fuel efficiency, in Mumbai.The ex-showroom price is Rs 50,410 for its deluxe model and Rs 45,180 for its standard model.
It's already a home to automobile majors like Toyota, Volvo, Tata Motors and Mahindra Reva.
The stand-off at the facility, which employs around 1,900 permanent workers and 2,500 contract workers, began on November 5 morning when the company management did not allow some of the contractual workers to go inside the plant.
While Hero Honda is ramping up capacity by 50 per cent, HMSI is readying itself to launch a fourth product.
Meanwhile, HMSI has raised its production capacity to 15 lakh units per year with the recent inauguration of its third assembly line.
Analysts say Bajaj's move to correct prices can potentially disrupt the market.
Sales, which were growing impressively in the first seven months of the year, decline in November. Ajay Modi reports.