Honda’s historic 35^th Million two-wheeler Milestone in India

Gurugram, February 27, 2018

Becomes the ONLY two-wheeler brand in India to cross 35 million units’ production mark in just 17 years!

Gurugram, 27 February 2018: Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. – the 100% subsidiary of Honda Motor Company (Japan), today celebrated a historical milestone as the company’s four manufacturing plants in India have together crossed the 35 million two-wheeler mark in total.

Making this milestone an industry first is the fact that Honda is the ONLY two-wheeler brand in India to exponentially grow and cross the 35-million-unit mark in just 17 years.

Honda 2Wheelers India: Delighting customers with speed and quality

Honda 2Wheelers India started operations in 2001. It took 11 years to achieve the initial 10 million units cumulative production in India (milestone achieved in 2012)., As the only Honda in Indian two-wheeler industry since 2012, Honda grew to meet customer demand and added the next 25 million customers in just five and half years. With this, Honda wing mark family is now 35 million customers strong.

The love and trust of Honda keeps growing as a new customer is joining the Honda family every 5 seconds.

Rolling out the historic 35^th million two-wheeler, an ‘Activa 4G’ from Honda’s second plant in Tapukara (Rajasthan), Mr. Minoru Kato – President & CEO, Honda 2Wheelers India said, “Thanks to great support from customers in both India and 68 countries across the world, Honda 2Wheelers India is celebrating our 35 millionth two-wheeler landmark today. Taking forward this love and trust, we at Honda are committed to provide quality products and experiences that make customers’ lives more enjoyable.”

Elaborating how Honda has changed the way India rides, Mr. Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Senior Vice President - Sales & Marketing, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. said, “Since the very start in 2001, Honda 2Wheelers India has led with its challenging spirit. Our first model, a scooter (Activa) activated the slowing scooter market with its advanced features and fresh design and is now leading India’s scooterization as No. 1 selling two-wheeler of India. Delighting 35 million customers with 24 products, Honda 2wheelers is now reaching closer to them through a network of over 5,700 authorised touch-points. India’s Love for Honda’s 2wheelers is Growing and we are set to meet the future expectations of our customers.”

The No. 1 hub for Honda’s two-wheeler business worldwide
This landmark marks a new milestone in Honda’s longstanding presence in India and emphasizes Honda 2Wheeler India’s role as the biggest production and sales base for 2wheelers both for the country and the world. In 2017-18, Honda produced approximately 14.8 million units of motorcycles worldwide (from April to December 2017). Of this, Honda 2Wheelers India accounted for approximately 31% of the motorcycle production and reinforced its position as the biggest two-wheeler production hub for Honda globally. Meeting domestic demand in India remains a priority as a massive 95 percent of the Honda two-wheelers produced in India are sold in the country. Over the years, Honda 2Wheelers India’s global presence too continues to grow as products made in India have delighted customers in 68 more countries.

2001 – 2011: Building a strong Foundation
Honda motorcycle business in India began in 2001 from its first plant in Manesar (Haryana). Interestingly, Honda 2Wheelers made its entry into the then dying segment of automatic scooters with its first offering for India – the Activa.

In 2004, Honda made its entry into the motorcycle segment with 150cc CB Unicorn and followed this with the launch of 125cc CB Shine (India’s largest selling 125cc motorcycle) in 2006.

In its first decade of business (2001-2011), Honda 2Wheelers India gradually scaled up its production and expanded capacity at its solo Manesar plant from 55,000 units in 2001 to 16.5 lac units’ annual production in 2011.

2011 – 2017: Matching ambition with aggression

The year 2011 was the inflection point when Honda 2Wheelers India become the Only Honda in Indian two-wheeler industry.

To cater to the increasing demand for its products, Honda 2Wheelers India aggressively expanded to three new plants in less than seven years (2011 – 2017) taking the total annual capacity to 6.4 million two-wheelers from the four plants.

Today, Honda is the only two-wheeler brand to offer a diversified portfolio, with as many as 24 two-wheeler models ranging from 110cc to 1800cc capacity.

Important milestone of Honda 2Wheelers India: