MUMBAI: For the seventh consecutive month in July, the Activa, flagship scooter from Honda, has not only topped the sales chart among all two-wheelers but has also contributed to 38 per cent of the incremental sale in the industry.

The achievement has made the Japanese major to revise upwards its scooter sales target to over 24 per cent this year.

The Activa for the first time ended the 15-year reign of Splendor from the Hero MotorCorp stable in March 2014 and also for five months in 2015.

But since January this year, it has not looked back with July recording the widest sales margin over the Splendor with a lead of 58,413 units, according to the Siam data.

July also marked the highest-ever sales for Activa at 2,56,173 units since its launch in 2001.

It can be noted that in March 2014, the Activa for the first time ended the reign of the Splendor by selling 14,150 units more at 1,77,928 units than the Hero brand.

In that year, it also held the lead in July and September. Similarly, in 2015, it led the Splendor in five months.

In January this year, the Activa took a lead of 10,778 units over the Splendor, which almost doubled to 20,714 in February, but declined to 10,717 in March.

It further came down to 9,697 in April but zoomed by 30,307 units in May and by 22,077 in June. July saw a lead of 58,413 units over the Splendor.

When contacted Honda Motorcycles & Scooter India (HMSI) senior vice president for Sales and Marketing, YS Guleria, attributed the rising industry leadership of the Activa to the brand salience as well as the reduction in the back orders following the commissioning of the 0.6-million second line at its Gujarat plant in June.

"We are happy that the Activa continues to cheer us with ever-increasing monthly volumes and leading the industry volume chart. July saw the maximum lead over the Splendor with the Activa leading by 58,413 units," Guleria told over phone from Delhi.

"We should also note that the Activa contributed as much as 38 per cent of the incremental sales of 1,62,703 units in the industry in July," he added.

Source : Honda Activa contributes 38% of incremental industry sales in July

NEW DELHI: Honda India is charting out plans to turn around its operations in India by driving in three new models, including a compact SUV.

Faced with high inventory, declining volumes and sudden shift in buyer demand from diesel to petrol variants, Honda India plans to launch hybrid version of the Accord sedan and the global Civic mid-size to revive its fortunes in on one of the fastest growing auto markets of the world.

Yoichiro Ueno, the newly-appointed president and CEO of Honda Cars India, said the mini-SUV segment looks promising. "The growth in the category is significant, and we believe that it will continue. Honda is now considering how to capture the SUV segment," he told TOI.

On slide in sales, he said the company has managed to control some of the issues plaguing the business in India. "When I took charge, we had high inventories... The January-March quarter had been below expectations," Ueno said.

​ Sudden shift in buyer demand from diesel to petrol variants has also upset the company's strategy. A poor faring by some of the models also made matters difficult, particularly the bad response to Mobilio MPV that was launched in July 2014.

"When I met the dealers, they were suffering from financial situations. They wanted to liquidate inventories," Ueno said. The dealers had been carrying inventory of about 2-2.5 months against healthy levels of three weeks to one month. The company has since corrected the situation by reducing deliveries to dealerships, which perhaps was the reason behind the continued fall in sales.

"There had been a quick shift from diesel to petrol. May be, we had too much focus on diesel. The alignment of production was too late as we thought that the shift towards petrol was temporary," the Honda MD said. Ueno said the situation had been relatively better in the retail market.

Speaking about the problems with the Mobilio, which failed to enthuse buyers, Ueno said the product did not match up to what the market wanted. "We had thought that there would be a strong demand for three-row seating in the private-customer segment... But the customers did not see the benefit. Also, the price was a bit higher than customer expectations."

Source : Honda India bets on 3 new models for turnaround

BANGALORE: Indian automobile manufacturer Tata Motors has successfully delivered first 50 cars to drivers on the Uber platform in Bangalore, on Monday. With an aim to foster micro-entrepreneurship in Bangalore , the initiative offers driver partners on the Uber platform a comprehensive vehicle purchase and ownership solution with a down payment of Rs 30,000 and a speedy funding within seven to ten days.  

Nakul Gupta, Regional Manager, PVBU, Tata Motors said, "We are delighted to have partnered with Uber to deliver seamless solutions for drivers in Bangalore. Reiterating our commitment to our partnership, this initiative will help solve the problems faced by drivers at the time of buying a car, by removing hurdles and making the buying process as smooth and quick as possible." 

The 'Tata Offer' entails the purchase of fuel-efficient cars like Indica and Indigo, from Tata Motors using flexible financing solutions from Tata Capital Financial Services and Tata Motors Finance, for drivers. Tata Motors has supplied 31 Indicas and 25 Indigos to the driver partners with a hope to enable more than 20,000 drivers on the Uber platform. Customers will also receive free accessories, GPS, external warranty and insurance in this offer.

Tata Motors has enhanced its service initiatives in Karnataka and with increased focus on service infrastructure, service quality and service offerings at workshops, the Company has jumped to No 2 position in the Customer Service Index, 2015 in Bangalore with a score of 940 points. Tata Motors will continue to offer industry leading service offerings and will also support Driver partners of Uber with best-in-class after-sales-service across 11 service workshops in Bangalore.

Source : Tata Motors Delivers 50 Cars to Uber Drivers In Bengaluru

NEW DELHI: The government is almost ready with policies to promote electric two-wheelers, Union Minister Jayant Sinha said.

The government is facilitating equity capital for investors under various mechanism including India Aspiration Fund, he said, while calling upon the big industries to invest in the electric two-wheelers sector.

"Electric vehicles are very strategic for us as an economy. We are working at policy level to make this electric two-wheelers work," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said at the 15th Darbari Seth Memorial Lecture organised by leading energy think-tank Teri.

"Policies are already in place both in transport and power ministries. What is required is innovative models and financing..." he noted.

Stating that electric two-wheelers are going to be game changer, Sinha said, "It is a massively important sector. India today is the world's largest market for two-wheelers. But they are petrol driven. We need to really make a transition to electric two wheelers."

From policy perspective, government is really driving towards making electric vehicles more economical, practical and feasible for Indian conditions, he said.

He, however, said batteries for electric two-wheelers is big problem area. "How do we recharge these vehicles? How do we get right batteries. Tremendous research is required in this area," the minister said.

He also emphasised on using rooftop solar energy for recharging electric two-wheelers and called for more innovation from scientific community. On financing of such projects, Sinha said equity risk capital and not bank loans are very crucial for the sector. "Do we have sources of equity risk capital in this country and investors who are willing to put billions of dollars on new technology? I think we have big financing gap in equity risk capital," he said.

Much of India's industry especially pharma, telecom, IT and e-commerce are funded by venture capitalists and private equity, and 90 per cent of which has come offshore and not from domestic sources, he said.

It is due to this reason that the government is creating institutions like India Aspiration Fund to provide sources for equity funding, he added.

Source : Govt ready to promote electric 2wheelers: Jayant Sinha

NEW DELHI: Indian arm of Italian two wheeler manufacturer Piaggio is going to launch country's first crossover sport scooterbike - Aprilia SR 150 on August 22. The bookings for the same has already strated on e-commerce website Paytm with an amount of Rs 2,000.

Priced at Rs 65,000 (ex showroom), Paytm is offering 100 percent cashback guarantee on the booking amount. Customers have to use promocode APRILIA2K to get Rs 2,000 cashback.

Aprilia SR 150 comes equipped with air-cooled, 154.4 CC, 4 Stroke engine which churns out maximum power of 11.6 PS @ 7.000 rpm, and 11.5 Nm maximum torque @ 5.500 rpm. It is available in two body colours - Matt Black, and White.

Aimed at young riders, its large 14" Black 5 spoke alloy wheels with five spokes and tubeless wider sport street tyres enhances the sensation of sport bikes with the convenience of automatic scooters. Distinct, Sporty handlebar with integrated turn indicator lights, double-barrel headlight unit on the front beak, Twin pod analogue unit for speedometer, fuel gauge and odometer are some of its other distinct features.

The steel frame structure is designed for higher rigidity, and its design is based on the RSV1000 R Factory. The 220 mm twin piston ventilated front disc brake and 140 mm rear drum brake with black calipers ensures the safety of the riders.

All this is supplemented with the convenience features like retractable front bag hook, stylish foldable integrated pillion footsteps, ample storage under the seat and provision for USB connector to charge your mobile on the go.

Source : Aprilia SR 150 launch on Aug 22; bookings begin on Paytm