The Hindu Business Line : Honda rolls out Unicorn; to invest Rs 500 cr

Mr H. Tariguchi (left), CEO, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), with Mr Alex Barros, Moto GP Rider, at the launch of Honda Unicorn Motorcycle in the Capital on Wednesday. -- Kamal Narang

New Delhi , Sept. 8

HONDA Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) today announced its foray into the Indian motorcycle market with the unveiling of its bike, the Unicorn.

The Unicorn comes with a four-stroke, 150 cc engine and would be made available in the market from next month.

``It has been designed and developed by the global Honda R&D team to meet the requirements of Indian consumers,'' Mr Suguru Kanazawa, Director, Honda Motor Japan and Senior Managing Director, Honda R&D Company, said.

The company also announced that it would invest Rs 500 crore over the next 3-5 years to take its total two-wheeler capacity in India to one million units from six lakh units currently.

The Unicorn is priced at Rs 50,043 (ex-showroom Delhi) and Rs 51,124 (ex-showroom Chennai).

The company is targeting sale of 56,000 units of the Unicorn and 530,000 two-wheelers this year.

Meanwhile, when asked whether the launch of the new bike would have any bearing on Honda's tie-up with the Hero group, HMSI officials replied in the negative saying that they would look "for co-existence with Hero Honda".

However, Mr Y. Aoshima, Managing Director and COO of HMSI who is set to take over as President and CEO of the company next month, did not rule out the possibility of rolling out bikes in the entry segment of the motorcycle market.

This could result in overlapping models between Honda and Hero Honda.

"We are planning to launch one new model every fiscal for the next three years. We would like to have a complete line-up and will look at launches in the entry level segment as well," Mr Aoshima said.

HMSI, which has invested Rs 500 crore since its inception four years ago, wiped out accumulated losses early this fiscal and will post net profit this year, he added.

The company aims to register 70 per cent rise in sales turnover during 2004-05 at Rs 1,700 crore over Rs 1,000 crore last fiscal with its three scooter models doing well and a good response expected from the Unicorn.

The company also plans to develop India as an export hub. HMSI has already been exporting scooters all over the world from its facilities and is currently studying the domestic market to commence exports of components as well.

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