With Honda recently announcing that the Africa Twin will be assembled in India, the Japanse two-wheeler giant is surely moving a step ahead towards ‘Make in India’ for India and the world. Today, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI) inaugurated its fourth manufacturing plant at Vithalapur (Mandal taluk, Ahmedabad district, Gujarat) in India. The factory was built in a record time of 13 months!
The ceremony was graced by chief guest: Mrs. Anandiben Patel (Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat), Noriake Abe (Operating Officer, Chief Operating Officer – Asia and Oceania Regional Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.), Shinji Aoyama (Operating Officer and Director, Chief Operating Officer, Motorcycle Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.), Toshiyuki Shimabara, (Operating Officer, Executive Incharge of Motorcycle Production, Motorcycle operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd), Keita Muramatsu (President & CEO – Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd), Toshinobu Motai (Chief Production Officer, HMSI), V Sridhar (Senior Vice President & Director – Corporate Office Production, HMSI), Anupam Mohindroo (Senior Vice President & Director – Purchase Head office, HMSI) and Mr. Yadvinder Singh Guleria (Senior Vice President – Sales & Marketing, HMSI).
Detailing on how it is a matter of great pride that Gujarat is the home of state-of-the-art scooter only manufacturing facility and Honda’s future expectations from India, Shinji Aoyama, Operating Officer and Director, Chief Operating Officer, Motorcycle Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. said, “India plays a key role for Honda’s 2wheeler business. In 2015 Honda’s global sales of all products was 28 million units out of which global 2wheeler sales stood at 17 million units. Today, 25% of the total Honda two-wheelers sold across the world come from India. We will continue to invest in technology, for the Indian market. Through training and cross market collaborations, we want to make India Honda’s technology hub as well. Driven by the visionary growth-centric outlook of the Government, there is an increased focus on investing in roads and infrastructure. These factors imply that the best days for the scooter market in India, are yet to come!”
Spread over 250 acres, Honda’s Fourth plant operations are scheduled in two phases. The first production line of 6 lac units’ annual production will soon be followed by the 2nd Line of additional 6 lac units’ annual production in the middle of 2016. In total, Honda will manufacture 1.2 million automatic scooters annually from its fourth plant.
The new Fourth plant will increase HMSI’s total annual production capacity to 5.8 million units, including 1.6 million units at first plant (Haryana), 1.2 million units at second plant (Rajasthan), 1.8 million units at third plant (Karnataka) and another 1.2 million units at the fourth plant (Gujarat).