Honda looking at tripling bike sales in next 5 years

After the end of one of the world’s most successful joint-venture Hero Honda Motors Ltd., there had been lot of talk about how the Japanese company would move ahead with its plans in India. Now it has been reported that Honda though has lost the five million numbers it gained through the joint venture, it plans to reach that number in another five years.

According to a Reuters report which mentioned the Nikkei business daily from Japan stated that Honda Motor Co. plans to ramp up motorcycle production and triple sales in India to 5 million units annually in five years as its partnership with the Hero Group nears end.

It was reported that to offset the expected decline in its local market share, Honda plans to boost production at subsidiary Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt from the current 1.55 million units a year, according to the the business daily report.

The report mentioned that the unit's second factory is to begin operating in the state of Rajasthan in the second half of 2011 and lift Honda's production capacity in India to 2.2 million units by around 2012. Plans are also afoot to build a third plant in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The report also mentioned that

Honda's overall investment to increase production in India is estimated at Rs 10 billion, or roughly 18 billion yen. It was also mentioned in the report that Honda plans to begin production on a 250cc sports model in India in March. Honda also plans to open new sales locations in regional cities and rural districts.