Honda Motors and Scooters India (HMSI), the completely owned division of Japan-based Honda Motor Company, is planning to expand its service and sub-regional sales network by approaching small cities of the country. The move is taken by the auto maker following the launch of its new 110 cc two-wheeler, ‘Dream Yug’, which is especially targeted to the buyers of rural areas. With the launch of its new bike, the company is aiming at a market share of around 50 per cent on the domestic turf.
On this approach of auto maker, President of HMSI, Keita Muramatsu, quoted, “India is a big country. The regions here are even bigger than countries like Indonesia. To enable our customers get a better sales and service network, we will create about 20 Zonal offices below the five regional offices.”
The auto maker had its foray in the country around a decade ago and has made an investment worth Rs. 3,500 crore. Besides, HMSI is planning to employ an additional amount of Rs. 1,500 crore at its Karnataka unit along with Manesar facility.
As per plans, the company is looking ahead to set up its Zonal offices in Bhopal as well as Chennai and is currently operating its regional offices in Pune, Manesar, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Lucknow. Incorporation of an in-house training centre at all the Zonal centres is also on the cards of the auto maker. HMSI is also planning to increase its service and sales network to around 2000 from the present figures near to 1500, by the end of fiscal 2013.
Moreover, the company is planning to kick off the operations at its Narsapur facility in Kolar district, Bengaluru by 2013, which will subsequently take its annual production potential to around 40 lac units. With this move, the auto major will maintain the flow of bike sales against the demand for its scooters.
For the current fiscal, the company has targeted sales of 27 lac units, wherein around 14 lac units are accounted for scooters. In the last fiscal, the auto maker delivered 21 lac vehicles among which 8.5 lac units were dedicated to scooters. Considering the sales of fiscal 2011, a large number of units were dedicated to Honda’s iconic scooter Activa, whose figures stood around 10 lac units. In the current fiscal, sales of the same are anticipated to cross the 11 lac mark.
