HMSI confirms four-bike rollout before December as part of ‘15 for 2015’

Having launched the CBR 650F, HMSI revealed three new bikes - the CB Hornet 160R and face-lifted CBR250R and the CBR 150R - and teased with only the wheels of another. All four will be officially launched later this year.

By Shobha Mathur

04 Aug 2015

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HMSI confirms four-bike rollout before December as part of ‘15 for 2015’

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) today commercially launched its flagship motorcycle, the CBR650F while displaying three other models – the CB Hornet 160R, the new CBR250R and the CBR 150R. The CBR 650F, HMSI’s 11 model for India this year, gets a sticker price of Rs 730,000 (ex-showroom Delhi) and Rs 760,790 (ex-showroom Mumbai). The company also displayed its new 110cc Livo commuter bike that all form part of the planned 15 new models for year 2015. These five new models will mainly target Tier 1 and 2 cities. Meanwhile the new CBR250R and CBR150R will get cosmetic changes in graphics and colours.

However, not much was revealed of the 15^th model, with HMSI preferring to reveal only the wheels of the new model. This means the four remaining bikes – CB Hornet 160R, CBR250R and CBR 150R and the ‘mystery bike’ – will be launched month after month this year, starting September around the beginning of the festival season in the country.

It is learnt that HMSI has already 100 enquiries for the CBR650F in the past week and is bullish of these converting into sales. The premium sports tourer, which is locally assembled at the Manesar plant, has already reached dealerships and sales kick off immediately.

The CBR650F will be sold across 12 cities in an exclusive sales-service shop in shop network of Wing World dealerships which also market the higher-displacement sportsbikes like the CB 1000R, CBR1000RR, VT1300CX and Goldwing 1800L.

Speaking at the product launch today in New Delhi today, Keita Muramatsu, president and CEO of HMSI, said: “The team at Honda has worked very hard to realise a dream of making a 16-valve, in-line, four- cylinder motorcycle right here in India. The Made-In-India CBR650F opens a window of opportunity for us. We are ready for the next level and this is one moment we all are proud of.”

In an earlier interaction, Muramatsu had told Autocar Professional that the company would look at local assembly of higher displacement bikes of over 1000cc going forward. This launch will now make this larger vision more realistic.

The CBR650F starts at a localisation content of 5 percent that will be ramped up based on volumes. Other parts are imported mainly from Thailand and Japan. The Manesar plant, where the CBR 650F is assembled, will produce two bikes a day. “We have also tied up with HDFC Bank for providing finance to customers. So everything is ready, showrooms are ready, spare part availability is there, technical training of staff is over at dealerships so now the game is on,” added Y S Guleria, senior VP (sales and marketing).

Guleria said the slowdown in the motorcycle market in India has been underway since November 2014 and is still to recover. Most of the volumes come from the commuter bike segment which is also under pressure. However, since HMSI has invested in flexible manufacturing lines at the Naraspuram (Karnataka) and Tapukara (Rajasthan) plants to enable smooth changeover from motorcycle to scooter production, it has been successful in bucking the downturn. Once the upcoming Gujarat plant is ready between January to March 2016, some of the existing scooter production can be shifted there, paving the way for increased motorcycle production. With the Gujarat plant on stream, total capacity will stand at 5.8 million units per annum.

HMSI grew 5 percent during April-July 2015 with a 26 percent market share, an uptick of 1.3 percent over the same period in the previous fiscal. The company holds a 62 percent share in scooters and 38 percent in bikes with HMSI selling over 250,000 scooters in a single month (July).

HMSI is also looking to introduce new models at the Auto Expo 2016 and Guleria promises that “it will be very exciting and you will see new models that you have not seen before.” But he hastened to add that there are no plans for bringing electric or hybrid two-wheelers due to the affordability issue, the lack of proper infrastructure as well as low demand.

Meanwhile, HMSI is on a network expansion spree and plans to add 800 new touch-points including service centres and new dealerships to its existing network of 3,800 in the country by the end of this financial year. A better than previously expected monsoon and festival season demand are likely to augur well for the Indian two- wheeler industry in the coming days and Honda looks to capitalise on this by increasing its reach in the market.

- HMSI demands a premium for its flagship CBR650F