HMSI demands a premium for its flagship CBR650F

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) today rolled out its flagship sports-cum-touring bike, the liquid-cooled, in-line four-cylinder, 85bhp, 649cc CBR650F with a price-tag of close to Rs 761,000 (ex-showroom, Mumbai), which is closer to the on-road price of Kawasaki’s bigger liquid-cooled, in-line four-cylinder 113bhp 806cc naked bike, the Z800.

It is known that the Kawasaki Z800s, which are imported into India as completely built units (CBUs) from Thailand, come with a price-tag of close to Rs 830,000 (on-road, Mumbai). On the other hand, Honda is importing the CBR650F as completely knocked down (CKD) units and is assembling the model at its Manesar plant.

Also, it can be recalled that in January earlier this year, Kawasaki, owing to the cost savings achieved at its Thailand plant, had slashed Rs 50,000 off the ex-showroom price of its Z800 models for three months then, until March 31, 2015. Under that, the ex-showroom Pune price of this model that was Rs 790,000 had fallen to Rs 735,000. As a positive consequence of that, India Kawasaki Motors (IKM) had recorded a single-day sales of 20 units of the Z800 on February 18, 2015 at its Pune-based showroom. These 20 units were sold to customers from Pune and Mumbai. Later, on account of good demand from Mumbai, IKM opened its standalone showroom in Mumbai on June 21, 2015.

Any other potential competition (in four-cylinder midsize bike category) to Honda’s CBR650F comes from the Italian brand of motorcycles, namely the Benelli TNT 600i and the TNT 600GT. Interestingly, while the Kawasaki Z800 sits at the upper end of the four-cylinder midsized motorcycle segment, the 84bhp, 600cc Benelli 600 models offer the smallest engine displacement that come with four-cylinder configuration in the market today. The tech-laden Honda CBR650F sits in between these models.

The Benelli 600 models that are also assembled locally by Pune-based DSK Group come with on-road Mumbai price-tags of close to Rs 613,000 (TNT 600i) and Rs 671,000 (TNT 600GT).

In three-cylinder engine format, competition comes from Triumph Motorcycle India’s 675cc Street Triple, which develops 78bhp, and is priced at Rs 791,000 (ex-showroom Delhi).    

HMSI’s local advantage

Given its network and infrastructure in India, HMSI stands at a commanding position today as compared to the other two competing names under the high-performance four-cylinder midsized motorcycle format.

The company began assembling the CBR650F models last month and, according to YS Guleria, senior vice-president (sales and marketing), it had plans of building an inventory of up to 30 units before the official launch of this bike that took place today.

Honda, which is expected to closely gauge the market response for this model, will work out on the localisation plan for CBR650F depending on its buyer turnout and customer feedback. Also having a different sales strategy (shop-in-shop within select existing showrooms) in place for this model, the company will begin selling the CBR650F across 12 cities under phase one besides the two existing Honda wing world showrooms, located one-each in Mumbai and Delhi.

These cities include Pune and Ahmedabad (west), Chandigarh and Delhi (north), Bhubaneshwar and Kolkata (east), Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Cochin (south) and Lucknow and Indore (central).

HMSI is positioning the CBR650F as ‘first of Honda’s premium make-in-India tourer motorcycles.’ Speaking at the Honda Revfest in Delhi today, Keita Muramatsu, president and CEO, 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 CBR 650F 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 the coming months it would be interesting to see the contribution of this new model to the growing volumes of the midsized motorcycle segment in India.

Also read:

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