HMSI readies inventory of up to 30 CBR650Fs before launch next month

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI), India’s second largest two-wheeler company in terms of sales, has started assembling its upcoming midsized sportsbike CBR650F at its Manesar plant. The company is currently assembling one CBR650F per shift per day, and will operate as per the market demand after its launch that is scheduled next month, on August 4.

Talking to Autocar Professional on the sidelines of the launch of its new 110cc, 9bhp commuter motorcycle Livo today, YS Guleria, senior vice-president (sales and marketing), HMSI, said: “We are looking at assembling 25-30 units of the CBR650F before we launch the product next month. We are currently assembling one unit per shift per day. The bookings for this model will begin today.”

The company has planned a shop-in-shop retail strategy for this model within which each dealership, where this model will be retailed, will have a dedicated space allotted exclusively to the CBR650F models. HMSI plans to roll out this model through select 10 dealerships across top 10 cities under phase one.

Later by March 2016, to retail this premium product, HMSI will have 20 dealerships across Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Indore, Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Cochin and others cities.

“All the salesmen and the engineers who will deal with this premium product are already trained by us. The shop-in-shop across 10 selected dealerships under phase one will be ready by end-July,” added Guleria.

The Honda CBR650F, which will be imported in the form of CKD kits, will be powered by the liquid-cooled, inline four-cylinder, 649cc engine.

With this flagship model, HMSI becomes the first company in the league of the big four (Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, HMSI and TVS Motor Company – jointly accounted for 91 percent of the two-wheeler industry in FY2014-15) to enter the midsized bike segment in India with a four-cylinder engine configuration. Besides HMSI, Italy’s Benelli is the only other brand which currently offers midsized bikes (600cc) with four-cylinder engine configuration (TNT 600GT and 600i). Japan’s Kawasaki is another big bike player that already offers its Z800 model that comes with a four-cylinder, 805cc engine.

Also read: HMSI to reveal new 125cc-650cc bikes at Revfest on August 4