Interview with Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Senior Vice President – Sales and Marketing, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd.

Honda is the world’s largest manufacturer of two wheelers. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI ), a 100 pc subsidiary of Honda Motor Company Ltd., Japan , was created in 1999, after splitting with erstwhile partners Hero. It is now the second largest two-wheeler company in India after Hero MotoCorp. The Indian company also contributes around 25pc towards Honda’s global sales of around 18 million units.

Interview with Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Senior Vice President – Sales and Marketing, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd.

Yours is the only two wheeler company that has such a huge presence in the scooter market in India. With more than 3 million units sold in the 2014-15 fiscal, do you think that HMSI will always be a scooter maker largely as compared to being a motorcycle manufacturer? Do you see the ratio tilting towards the bike segment in years to come?

For us, as our name - at Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. suggests, our priorities lie equally in delivering the best products to our customers, be it an ATSC (automatic scooter), or a motorcycle.

It’s true that Activa has been our most popular product in India, and its sale is soon to cross 10 million units since its launch in 2001. Today, Honda has the market share of 56% in the ATSC segment which is growing at 2.5 times the industry growth. We estimate that this trend of increased acceptance of automatic scooters shall continue and we will continue to cater to the demand of the customers.

As far as overall brand is concerned, we have 60% of business coming from scooters and 40% from motorcycles and most of it is contributed by 125cc and 150cc motorcycles. In motorcycle segment, Honda has been making new records through active sales. CB Shine became the first 125cc motorcycle in India to sell 30 lacs units. We recently gave the legacy of Unicorn a fresh impetus by bringing in the new CB Unicorn 160, a benchmark in performance motorcycles.

In view of above, it won’t be inappropriate to mention that Honda will be driving growth in both segments!

Your company has performed much better in the 110cc to 125 cc motorcycle segment as compared to the less than 110cc segment. Is this an indication of the Indian motorcycle market getting to grow beyond the commuter mass segment?

According to SIAM, 49pc of the sales are still contributed by 110cc segment motorcycle. However, the mid-segment is starting to see traction after a long-time, and hence we will be focusing our energies across both the segments.

Can you throw some light on the R&D activities your company undertakes in India and do we still get a lot of inputs from your global office in Japan?

Traditionally, Honda R&D is operating as separate entity across all 2Wheeler, 4Wheeler & power product divisions globally. Undertaking a major paradigm shift, the New Technical Center was the first step taken by Honda towards a new form of global operations which was launched in 2013. Honda’s Technical Center at Manesar combines integrated system of DEBQ (Design, Engineering, BOP/Purchasing and Quality) under one roof to create a globally optimal operating system that advances local development of higher quality product at low cost. It houses the advanced Wind Tunnel facility which simulates real world air flow situation to monitor aerodynamics and its effect on models to develop truly fuel efficient two-wheelers. The facility’s engineering and styling design also incorporates benchmark equipment like chassis dynamo, bench dynamo, layout machines, SEM microscope etc.

How do you perceive India as an export hub? Is there a big scope for such an activity?

Honda is already the World’s largest two-wheeler company, producing two-wheelers at 33 plants in 22 countries. These are individual subsidiaries which are present and operating in various other countries/ international markets. With India being world’s largest two-wheeler market, the immediate priority for  Honda  is  to  meet  demand  of  this  huge  domestic  market. Although all our three factories are running at full capacity, we are still long way from meeting domestic demand.  As we increase our capacity, we hope to increase our exports too in future which will be 10% of our total production.

Till the 250cc engine capacity range, your bikes are well accepted in the Indian market. But the situation is a bit sad when it comes to super bikes. Why is this so?

Super bikes is still a niche segment, and we have a few iconic offerings in this segment as well. This segment will receive a major fillip from Honda with the impending launch the CBR 650F. This bike would be a ‘Make-in-India’ initiative. The number of inquiries we have been receiving about this bike has been phenomenal. Like we have done for all other segments, we are confident that with CBR 650F, Honda will redefine the Super Bike segment as well.

We had also recently marked the 40 years of iconic Honda Goldwing by launching it in India. By this, we will not only open up the skill of our existing manpower but it will also showcase the Honda India's manufacturing quality to the world. Through the CBR650F, we hope to bring the big-bike riding experience within the reach of a larger enthusiast audience. 

Lastly, yours is a company in a hurry, perhaps to prove a point that it is the best. How soon before it becomes the No. 1 player in India?

The biggest gratification for Honda comes from customers itself. We are motivated by the trust placed on us by our 20 million plus customers in India. We have a long term commitment to Indian market and keeping that in purview, we are laying stress on bringing in huge investments here. Apart from INR 1100 crores of investment in Gujarat plant, we recently announced Rs 585 crore investment of our already existing plant in Narsapura near Bangalore. 39% capacity will be increased by 4th plant in Gujarat which is planned to be the “World’s largest only scooter plant" and our current focus is to start the plant on time.