Buoyed by huge demand, Honda to double production of Navi
MUMBAI: Surprised by the huge
response to its 'by India, for India' bike Navi launched this April, Honda
Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) is planning to double its production to
around 1 lakh units soon.
The Japanese two-wheeler major,
which is inching closer to unseating the decades-old market leader Hero MotoCorp,replica watches
had unveiled the Navi at the Delhi Auto Expo in February at price of under Rs
40,000. It was rolled out commercially in April.
Testing the market for a very
stripped-down model with the Navi, which was fully planned, designed, and
produced for the local market, Honda had expected to sell only round 2,000
units a month in the first year.
But it has already got huge backlog,
and therefore, the plan to double the output.
"We have been really surprised
by the humongous response to the Navi. It's really exceeded our expectations.
We have, therefore, decided to almost double our capacity to 90,000 to 1 lakh
units soon," the company's Senior Vice-President for Sales and Marketing
Yadvinder Singh Guleria told PTI.
At the launch, the company had said
it would be happy if it could sell 2,000 units a month and had an installed
capacity of 50,000 per annum.
But Guleria said even though Navi
was developed only for India, which became the largest market for Honda globally
in June this year, overtaking Indonesia, they are shipping the bike to Nepal
now.
"Last month alone we shipped as
many as 500 units to the Himalayan nation," Guleria said, adding,
"going forward, the company may look at exporting the bike to other Saarc
markets like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as well."
Asked about investment for the
additional capacity for Navi, which is being manufactured at the 1.2 million
units per annum Tapukara plant in Rajasthan, he said no additional investment is
needed as they have a flexible assembly line.
With the Navi or 'New additional
value for India,' Honda has truly disrupted the domestic two-wheeler market as
it has created an entirely new segment of fun riding, he said.
Navi is powered by a 110-cc Honda
HET engine with automatic transmission and is the first 100 per cent Honda
India R&D- from concept development to commercial production.
Source : Buoyed
by huge demand, Honda to double production of Navi