Chennai: Japanese two wheeler maker Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), planning to launch 15 new models (upgraded and brand new ones) next year, targets to sell 4.7 million units next fiscal (2015-16) up from 4.5 million units in 2014-15, said a top company official.
The company, planning to launch locally assembled 650cc bike called CBR 650 this July, is mulling to have an exclusive distribution network for it.
"This fiscal - 2014-15 - we will be selling 4.5 million units and the exports would be around 180,000 units. Next year the target will be 4.7 million units and the exports will be 200,000 units," Keita Muramatsu, president and CEO told reporters here Friday.
According to him, the full benefit of the company`s 1.2 million unit new plant in Gujarat will kick in only from 2016-17 onwards as the unit will go on stream in January 2016.
He said HMSI is investing around Rs.1,100 crore in the new scooter plant which will take the total number of plants to four.
"The idea of new plant is to have a flexible manufacturing facility so that we can meet the market demand for scooters or motorcycles," he said.
Muramatsu expects the demand for motorcycles to go up in the coming years while the market now is witnessing good growth in scooter sales.
"Presently our scooter:motorcycle sales is in the ratio of 58:42. Going forward it may be 50:50," he said launching the new model CB Unicorn 160.
He said out of the 15 new models that the company would launch in a year`s time, seven will be brand new ones while the balance will be upgradation of existing model lineup.
Speaking about the 650cc bike, Muramatsu said the plan is to assemble around 200 bikes initially and scale it up later. "Initially the local content in the bike will be around five percent and it will go up in the future," he said.
"For the first two years, there won`t be any exports of 650cc bikes out of India," he added.
He did not agree that HMSI is an one model- Activa - company as other models are chipping in with good sales numbers.
According to him, the backlog in Activa is declining and the company has started booking orders for the scooter model.
"The order backlog is around 100,000 units," he said.
According to him, the company will be coming out of one new scooter and two motorcycle models soon.
