HMSI already owns a big piece of the cake with its motorcycles and scooters like the Unicorn, Activa, Shine and many more. The firm managed to sell 16.58 lakh units in 2010-11 and has plans to touch the 21 lakh mark this year.
The bikemaker now plans to launch a mass market 100cc. The new 100cc motorcycle, to be priced at around Rs 45,000 will be launched in 2012. “Our target in the next decade is to be No.1 in India. For the first time, we will introduce a mass segment motorcycle in the 100cc category…it is the first priority for us,” said HMSI President and CEO Shinji Aoyama. “We have not been entering the mass segment because of existence of Hero Honda (its erstwhile joint venture partner). But now for a while, we will concentrate on introducing mass models. We will introduce the 100cc bike in next year…it is currently under development,” he added.
HMSI’s marketing and sales VP, NK Rattan has recently confirmed the plan by saying that HMSI will showcase the new 100-cc bike at the Auto Expo in January and launch it next fiscal. The firm plans to launch a new 100cc motorcycle which would cost about Rs 45,000 later in 2012. HMSI VP-Sales and Marketing said, “We will showcase a 100-cc bike at the Auto Expo in January and launch it next fiscal.” He also revealed that the firm plans to launch a new scooter by the end of this year. The new scooter would be 100 percent localized while its product development would take place from Japan.
With 1,220 outlets across the country, HMSI plans to improve its dealership network by adding another 300 outlets by the next fiscal year, along with the launch of new products.
Will the HMSI 100cc eat up the share of what once Hero Honda or today’s Hero MotoCorp has? Let’s wait and watch.
Source: Business Line