India becomes Honda's largest 2-wheeler market

India is now Honda's largest 2-wheeler market by volumes. Honda's domestic volumes recently overtook Indonesia's contribution to the global sales, thus elevating India to the top spot.

Honda Motorcycles & Scooter India (HMSI) contributed 32% of Honda's global 2-wheeler sales in the first quarter of the financial year 2017-18. This was fueled by domestic sales which grew by 20% in this period whereas the industry growth was clocked at 9%. Motorcycle sales grew by 20%, thus cementing India as Honda's largest motorcycle market. Meanwhile, Indonesia remains the biggest consumer of Honda scooters.

Honda recently inaugurated its 4th assembly line in Karnataka with an annual production capacity of 6 lakh units. The Narsapura plant in Karnataka now has an installed capacity of 24 lakh units. That makes India the largest production hub for Honda 2-wheelers with a combined capacity of 64 lakh units spread across four manufacturing plants. In comparison, Indonesia only has a production capacity of 58 lakh units.

If you look at the domestic market, the state of Uttar Pradesh is HMSI's largest 2-wheeler market. Tamil Nadu is biggest market for Honda scooters accounting for 44% of all scooter sales with Maharashtra in second place.

Source: ET Auto