Royal Enfield Better Watch Out
Honda makes some fantastic motorcycles and specifically the kinds of bikes that sell well in India. The company recently has established a new 15-person executive team to help it gain market share in India. With this new focus on India comes the news that the company will come out with new models. According to ET Auto, the company will make new bikes placed in the premium 300cc to 500cc market. The direct competition? Royal Enfield.
Honda will set up a new independent network of 100 locations. Of those outlets, 22 of them will be what’s known as Big Wing outlets. These Big Wing outlets are devoted specifically to the premium market. Yogesh Phogat, previously of Ducati and Harley, will be the person heading the push.
Yadvinder Sign Guleria, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, said that the team is approaching the premium segment enthusiastically. “We know that pricing is going to be key consideration for increasing the volumes and viability of our dealers. There has to be a model that is locally produced to make it viable.”
The long term goal here is to see double-digit market share in the premium area of the Indian motorcycle market. It’ll be interesting to see how this progresses. I’m also interested to see if Honda brings those new smaller displacement motorcycles built for the India market to other areas of the world. Time will tell.