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-   -   HMSI launches Honda Big Wing - Honda's premium bike dealerships (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/superbikes-imports/208607-hmsi-launches-honda-big-wing-hondas-premium-bike-dealerships.html)

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So the CBR 250R has been given a miss. Hope they service the relevant bikes here as well. Am sure the premium customers would prefer that rather than sharing service spot with the sea of Activas :D

But hopefully this doesn't translate to increase in prices for the 300

Will be interesting to see if the service costs remain the same once the new setup is in place. Or is this new network only for sales?

IMHO - Honda always had the lowest service charges due to sharing of infrastructure with their mass segment vehicles.

The first Honda Big Wing showroom in India has been opened in Gurugram at ABW Tower, IFFCO Chowk. At the showroom's inauguration, Honda also completed deliveries of the Gold Wing, Africa Twin, and CB300R to customers.

Honda's service cost for its big bikes have been reasonable. Hope this new initiative of separate showrooms for these bikes will make the buying/servicing experience better.

Wow the showroom looks swell, unlike some other big bike brands which have tiny floor spaces. Maybe this format isn't replicable in all cities or spaces but its a great start.

That's a good point. :thumbs up

It would be interesting to see if the dealers change tactics after investing in a separate facility for the higher capacity bikes.

Here in Pune, there is just one dealer, and their showroom facility costs were pretty much non-existent as the existing facility meant for the Activas (and other smaller capacity products) was being used to sell and service the big bikes. There wasn't any dedicated showroom floor-space where the big bikes were displayed.

Let's hope dealers don't resort to tactics like adding handling charges and increasing the service cost, in order to recover the initial investment.

On another note, the design of the showroom looks stunning to say the least and beats even the BMW Motorrad ones! Way to go, Honda!

The last picture in the opening post does show the service station so I guess that it will be a 3S setup.

Great looking showroom, and deserving experience for big bike buyers. Would have been good if Honda had complimented this with CBR650R reveal and price announcement. The way they are treating the launch, it looks very poorly thought of.

Wow, our market has really matured. We saw Maruti making Nexa a success, there are so many dedicated used car dealerships in the organised sector, we have lots of Supercar dealerships and now, a different channel for big bikes clap:.

Question to bikers = Are big bike volumes enough to bring a return on the investment?

Service too. Sharing the full press release:

Honda sold 234 units of their big bikes in the year 2018, and traditionally had the least market share among the major players.


Service is the main revenue generator for these companies. Honda was an exception, having only a third of the service costs as compared to direct competition like Kawasaki or Suzuki. They shared infrastructure with the mass market segment (of which they are placed 2nd in the market), thus having good economies of scale.

Looks like that is about to change.

However, better focus on bigger bikes might lead to better pricing as well - as most big bikes from Honda were priced on the optimistic side earlier.

Quite a safe approach & glad that Honda finally did this even if it's late. Honda has been slow mover in this segment and don't think these new dealerships would translate to quicker launches of their premium bike range.

Premium bike dealerships would have been an item on someone's list in HMSI, now it got ticked. However, without new product launches and more sales, this doesn't look sustainable.

I genuinely think HMSI will launch its premium bikes quicker. (At the same time not expecting HMSI to be any less erratic with its timing of the launches owing to their love for risk aversion) So far HMSI has maintained a kind of subdued presence in the big bike market. Without more launches its hard to see where HMSI will get the returns on all this investment. Also, I think the service costs will be realigned as this will be exclusively utilised for the big bikes.

Although I don't prefer expensive service, reality is, with lesser service cost compared to Kawi or Suzuki, it simply is not possible for HMSI to survive.

Even for Nexa, there's a premium of over 10% than the regular MASS. That 10% is 100% not sufficient for HMSI to survive for sure.

Well, it's a little tricky to get an absolute answer for that at this point. But unlike the MS Nexa model, we'll at most see only one or two Big Wing sales/service outlets per state, just like how the current Honda "Wing world" outlets are. The Big wing outlets will replace the current wing world outlets and provide a more premium experience.

On the positive side, such investments also mean that HMSI is getting more and more serious about the premium bike segment which will translate to newer models being brought here.

Also, in a city like Bangalore, we're already cramped for space/service appointments, thanks to quite a decent number of bikes sold from the existing wing world dealer (one for entire Karnataka). With the CB300R coming in, we expect it to get worse. So for us, this is a welcome move. :)

I think comparing this to Nexa is not right simply because in terms of volumes, Nexa is equivalent to Hyundai. Nexa is a brand in itself. As long as Hyundai survives, Nexa can easily survive and flourish.

For premium bikes, the story is different all together. Looking at Honda's sales numbers of ~250 units in the the last FY, i think Honda is banking big on the new 650 for volumes. Also, the service will definitely get expensive. Premium experience comes with a premium price tag!

In any case, this looks like a good move. In today's world, experience is what matters.