Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Mar 09, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Mar 09, 2006 |
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Corporate
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Outlook Honda to invest Rs 400 cr Our Bureau
Future plans "We are studying the feasibility of setting up a new plant. It is too premature to disclose the details."
Riding high: Mr Y. Aoshima (right), CEO & President, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, with Mr M. Sudo, Executive Vice-President Asian Honda Motor Company, at the launch of new bike "Shine'' in the Capital on Wednesday. - Ramesh Sharma
New Delhi , March 8 Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Ltd (HMSI) has unveiled its second bike, the 125-cc `Shine', in the Indian market. It said it would invest Rs 400 crore over the next three years to more than double its production capacity to two million units by 2010 to garner a 20-per cent share in the two-wheeler market. HMSI, a fully owned Indian subsidiary of Honda, said it hoped to sell 1,70,000 units of the new bike in the 12 months beginning April 1, 2006. The company has priced the bike, which will compete with market leader Hero Honda's models such as `Super Splendor' and `Glamour', Bajaj Auto's `Discover' and TVS Motors' `Victor GLX', at Rs 45,120 (on-road Delhi) and Rs 47,065 for the disk brakes variant. "Our aim is to become one of India's top three two-wheeler manufacturers by 2010. For this, we will be launching innovative products over the coming years, both in the scooter and motorcycle segments," the HMSI President and CEO, Mr Y. Aoshima, said on Wednesday. The company, which has already broken even, has so far invested Rs 700 crore in its Indian operations. It enjoys an eight per cent market share primarily due to its dominance in the scooter segment; it plans to pump an additional Rs 400 crore for increasing capacity and launching new models. "We are studying the feasibility of setting up a new plant. It is too premature to disclose the details," Mr Aoshima said, when asked whether the company could go in for a new location for capacity addition.
Haryana still attractive
On whether the company would shy away from re-investing in Haryana, where it faced a severe labour unrest last year, Mr Aoshima said Haryana remained an attractive investment destination for the company. HMSI said it would launch the new bike, Shine, in phases, beginning with North and Central India from April 17 followed by the South, West and East zones. The company said the 125-cc segment was witnessing high growth rates. Asked whether entry into the high volume segment meant direct competition with Hero Honda, its joint venture partner in India, Mr Aoshima said the two companies worked on future product line-ups through joint meetings.
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