2018 Honda Gold Wing deliveries commence

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) today delivered the 2018 Honda Gold Wing tourer motorcycle to its first customer in the country at an event, held in Jaipur in Rajasthan.

The motorcycle, which comes priced at Rs 2,685,000 ex-showroom, New Delhi, is being directly imported through the CBU route and was first showcased in India at the 2018 Auto Expo. The company had already commenced bookings for the motorcycle in October 2017.

The premium tourer motorcycle offers high-end features such as an advanced seven-speed, dual clutch transmission (DCT), throttle-by-wire technology, cruise control, electronically adjustable windscreen, and a seven-inch TFT colour display, which also allows Apple CarPlay integration with the rider’s mobile phone.

The 2018 Gold Wing comes powered by Honda’s newly developed horizontally-opposed, 1.8-litre 6-cylinder engine and the company claims that it is more nimble as well as more powerful than the previous model of the bike.

According to Yadvinder Singh Guleria, senior vice president, Sales and Marketing, HMSI, “2018 Gold Wing was the showstopper of Honda Two-Wheelers India Auto Expo pavilion. After receiving an overwhelming response and over 35 bookings, we are pleased to announce the first delivery of the 2018 Gold Wing. The revolutionary model is fully loaded with features including Apple CarPlay, first on any motorcycle in the world, which can be accessed on the swanky new 7-inch TFT display.”

HMSI, which is the No 2 two-wheeler player in India had reported domestic sales of 519,072 units in May 2018, up 1.70 percent YoY (May 2017: 510,381). Its near-flat growth, however, was attributed to a YoY decline in the sales of scooters for Honda, which stood at 327,167 units, down 2.09 percent over a year ago sales of 334,168 units. The company’s motorcycle sales on the other hand, stood at 191,920 units, registering a growth of 8.91 percent over the 176,213 units sold in May 2017.

Where the company offers a slew of commuter as well as sports commuter 160cc products, including its Dream-series, Shine, CB Unicorn and the recently introduced X-Blade bikes, in the premium sports and sports touring categories, it now boasts a total of five products – the CBR650F in the premium mid-sized category, CB1000R, CBR1000RR, the Africa Twin and the Gold Wing.

While some of these offerings are also assembled at the HMSI’s facility in Manesar in Haryana, the Gold Wing sitting at the very top of the pyramid and being a completely niche product is being brought in as per orders and is only available in its distinct Candy Ardent Red shade.