Korea's Hyosung to introduce 250cc bikes next year

Korean bike brand Hyosung will launch 250cc performance and cruiser bikes next year for under Rs 200,000 each, to compete directly against the best seller in that segment, the Honda CBR 250.

Hyosung, which sells cruisers and sports bikes, is presently setting up a completely-knocked down (CKD) assembly facility in India for two models, the ST7 and GT 650R, along with partners Garware Motors of Pune. The Honda CBR 250, priced at Rs 151,000 (ex-showroom, Mumbai) has garnered total bookings of around 3,000 units since January from across the country.

Like Honda, more companies are keen at starting local production of such high-performance bikes in India after gauging the demand generated by the Kawasaki Ninja 250 launched by Bajaj Auto and priced at Rs 269,000.

Diya Garware Ibanez, managing director, Garware Motors, said: “We are discussing with SNT Motors (owners of the Hyosung) to see how the volumes work out for our two models. We will follow the launch with the naked version of the GT 650R later in the year, followed by the 250cc models next year.”

Adding:”With regard to pricing of the 250cc, we have to be right up there with the best selling models like the (Honda) CBR 250. Other models of Hyosung could also follow, as there is a big portfolio of models to choose from.”

Garware will open bookings for the ST7, priced at Rs 600,000, and the GT 650R, priced at Rs 550,000, on April 21, with deliveries to start by May end. The company will accept bookings at 10 dealerships which will be opened shortly, followed by an additional 10 outlets to be opened later in the year.

Although engines, transmissions and gearboxes for the Hyonsung bikes will initially be imported into the country from Korea due to the low volumes projected during the first year, they may get locally made in due course if demand improves substantially.

Garware is expecting sales of around 2,000 units of the two models in the first year.”We may have to go in for local production of engines to benefit from the lower tax duty if there are enough volumes supporting it,” stated Ibanez.

By the revised rules of the finance ministry, all imports of pre-assembled engines, transmissions and gearboxes will have to pay a customs duty of 30 per cent as against 10 per cent levied last year.

The company is in talks with distributors of neighbouring countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for sales of Hyosung bikes. Hyosung had recently appointed a distributor in Nepal, which is keen on procuring the bikes from Garware due to lower duties.

The company is spending Rs 20 crore towards the CKD facility being built at Wai in Maharashtra. It has acquired 25 acres, which can be used for expansion, said executives.

Honda expects India to be its largest 2-wheeler market in 5 years

Honda has targeted India to be its top two-wheeler market in the world within the next five years.

Though China is the world's largest producer of motorcycles today, it is of little relevance to Honda thanks to the unrealistically low levels of pricing prevalent in the country.

“Honda always keeps quality as its top priority and it is difficult to meet the existing pricing structure in China. However, this is not the case in India where people appreciate our quality and are willing to pay a price for it,” Mr Shinji Aoyama, the outgoing President & CEO of Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, told Business Line.

Incidentally, the Japanese automaker's two-wheeler operations in Indonesia and Vietnam are slightly ahead of India in terms of numbers though it is only a matter of time before the scales are tilted. “India has the potential in the near future to be the largest business operation for our bikes and scooters globally,” he said.

From Honda's point of view, this is but imperative considering that it has lost nearly five million two-wheelers annually to its former partner, the Hero group, after exiting the 26-year-old joint venture. As a result, its global numbers are down to 13 million bikes and scooters.

Its 100 per cent subsidiary HMSI will end this fiscal at a little over 1.6 million units, going up to 2.2 million units in 2011-12. To catch up with the Hero group would call for greater aggression with launch of mass motorcycles while ramping up capacity quickly. In the process, a third plant could become a reality by 2015-16.

“Our R&D capacity in India will be strengthened so that Honda can act faster and become more responsive to the needs of customers. By the end of this decade, India could hopefully account for half the output of Honda's bikes and scooters. It is our most important market and we will accelerate activity in Japan to improve our presence here,” Mr Aoyama said.

This fiscal is expected to see two-wheeler production in India at around 12 million units of which the Hero group will account for five million, followed by Bajaj Auto with 3.5 million units. TVS Motor will be closer to two million units with HMSI at 1.6 million bikes and scooters.

HMSI estimates that the next decade could see production of two-wheelers at over 20 million units by which time it aspires to be the market leader. Experts say this will be quite a challenge considering that there will be stiff competition from local players. “The Hero group, Bajaj and TVS are going to be as aggressive and it will be interesting to see how the leadership stakes pan out at that time,” they add.

Mr Aoyama also reiterated that the domestic market would be top priority for Honda. “HMSI will not become an export hub though it will do its bit in meeting demand from other countries which is the case now. Our operations in China and Asean will also play a role in exporting bikes whenever the need arises,” he said.

Honda aims to overthrow Hero within a decade, capture hinterland

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) doesn’t appear to be in a rush to grab market share, despite having a behemoth such as Hero Honda Motors to compete with.

True to the Japanese philosophy, Honda’s two-wheeler business in India is poised to grow “step by step” but no indications are available yet on the quantum of investments planned for the near future.

At present, HMSI’s dealership and service network are just a little over a fourth of Hero Honda’s. It has a single product in the 100-110cc space whereas Hero Honda is a well-acknowledged leader in the entry-level bike market. HMSI’s presence in semi-urban and rural areas is also minimal at present whereas Hero Honda rules these territories.

By president and chief executive officer Shinji Aoyama’s own admission, the semi-urban and rural market account for just a third of bike sales for the company now with 2/3rd of sales coming from urban areas. “But this situation is expected to be reversed in the coming decade, when semi-urban and rural areas will account for 2/3rd of bike sales. We need to scale up our presence in these markets....at present we have negligible presence here”.

Nothing at HMSI will move in a hurry, though. The second manufacturing plant at Tapukara (Rajasthan) is geared to produce 6 lakh units annually and should commence production in the early second half of 2011, but will have to be expanded almost immediately to 12 lakh units. HMSI’s total investment in India will stand over `2,000 crore by then. Aoyama acknowledges the challenges ahead, saying sales and service network will be enhanced from 1,200 to 1,500 outlets and investments will come in for expanding further. But he expresses his inability to share investment details for the future, saying HMSI is aiming to take market leadership only a decade from now.

Meanwhile, Aoyama is moving to Japan for a larger role in Honda’s global motorcycle business. He is credited with adding 70 lakh new customers to HMSI and is launching the second manufacturing plant at Tapukara.The new incumbent, Keita Muramatsu, will have to add capacity at a furious pace to keep up with market dynamics as there will eventually be a shift towards bikes instead of the focus on ungeared scooters at present.

HMSI hopes to close this fiscal with 16.5 lakh units, a 30% jump over 2009-2010.

Honda to accomplish top brass of 2-wheeler biz

After its split from the Munjals of Hero, Honda is reshuffling the management of its two-wheeler business-Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI). As part of this exercise, president Shinji Aoyama will depart and senior Japanese personnel associated with its erstwhile joint venture Hero Honda will enter the management.

Sources in HMSI confirmed the exit of Aoyama, who has been at the helm since June 2007, by the end of this month. The departure, however, raises some eyebrows. "Normally, the company head is appointed for a tenure of three years, and thereafter gets one year extension till the completion of five years. Aoyama now leaves three months short of completing four years in India," a source said.

Sources also said that HMSI will see a major recast, including entry of senior personnel from Hero Honda. These personnel were mainly representatives of Honda who were deputed with Hero Honda when the JV between the two companies was alive. Since the JV no more exists, Honda will pull out its representatives and bring them to HMSI, which is its fully-owned company.

A spokesperson for HMSI did not take calls to answer queries on the matter.

The reshuffle comes at a time when Honda is looking at a major push in the Indian market post the split with the Munjals. Sources said the company plans to scale up operations swiftly as it feels that there is a big demand for its products, something that can be gauged by the waiting period on some of its products.

The split from the Munjals has given Honda the freedom to independently chalk out strategies and launch more products.

Previously, HMSI had to play a restricted role in the big-volume motorcycle segment as it had to always keep Hero Honda and the Munjals in mind. The company has already said it is working on a very low-cost bike, priced around $600 or Rs 27,000, that it plans to sell in markets in Latin America, Africa and possibly India.

Honda has already shown that it can turn around fortunes in India by single-handedly reviving the scooter market, and literally wiping out the once-heavyweight Bajaj Auto from the segment.

However, a big challenge for Honda is absence of a country-wide retail network like Hero Honda that is present even in small towns and villages. Also, Honda will not have the bargaining power that it enjoyed with vendors when buying components for the large-volume Hero Honda. "It will have to expand the network and build up scale to enjoy the benefits it had with the Munjals in Hero Honda," an analyst said.

Sales for HMSI this fiscal (April '10-February '11) have grown 19% at 15,09,426 units. While bike sales are up 31%, scooter sales have grown by 10%.

Hero's new identity costs Rs 100 cr; new name and logo on products

Hero Honda has set aside a kitty of Rs 100 crore to create a new brand identity that will lead to a new company name and corporate logo to be etched on every bike and scooter it sells in the Indian market, people familiar with the matter told ET.

The company has shortlisted five agencies -JWT, Draftfcb Ulka, Mudra, Law & Kenneth , and Percept H - to create the new brand identity, sources said. JWT, Draftfcb Ulka, and Percept H already handle various brands in the Hero Honda portfolio. These five agencies will join London-based design agency Wolff Olins to work on the brand repositioning, including new name and logo.

The new logo, expected to have a direct connect with its mass customers and to be unveiled in the next few months, will drop the Honda name from its corporate identity. Hero Honda has not yet replied to an e-mail query by ET on the rebranding plans.

The 27-year-old Indo-Japanese venture, which is the world's largest two-wheeler maker by volume, is awaiting regulatory approvals to break its joint venture with Honda and pursue operations independently.

Hero Honda managing director Pawan Munjal is taking a personal interest in the presentation made by these agencies, as he wants to ensure no stone is left unturned to announce a new brand post the separation from Honda, people close to the matter said. "The final call on the selection of the agency to work with Wolff Olins could get delayed as senior officials from Hero Honda are in Japan and their arrival back to India has got delayed due to the earthquake," sources said.

The Hero group's new brand would also have a global presence as the company intends to ship its bikes and scooters to markets such as Latin America, Africa, Middle East, and South East Asia.

"Hero Honda wants to ensure that the announcement of the new brand identity and the subsequent communication is high decibel and is in line with the recent brand re-launches, if not better," sources said.

The agencies in fray to undertake the rebranding exercise will also present their assessment of recent brand revamps such as Airtel and entry strategies used by new brands like Tata Docomo - which were also developed by the Wolff Olins.

Analysts tracking the market said that the new brand positioning is likely to be India-centric and will take into account the independent technology strength the company aims to acquire. "Hero has to take its customer connect to the next level. It primarily operates at the entry-level of the two-wheeler market and the new branding has to synergise technology and masculinity associated with the automotive world. It should have a stronger marketing participation at its sales points that will drive customer interest in the company," Shravani Sen, director of Delhi-based marketing firm Synovates , said. A similar rebranding exercise was seen during the divorce of Bajaj Auto from Kawasaki and TVS Motors from Suzuki, he added.

Hero Honda has been one of the largest spenders in the Indian marketing space and has been actively associated with top-notch events such as ICC World Cup, Indian Open Golf Tournament, IPL , and Commonwealth Games . The company likely spends over Rs 300 crore annually on marketing and product promotions.

Hero Honda’s wrong and Bajaj’s right

What is Hero Honda Motors not doing right?

Analysts said while the country’s largest two-wheeler company is losing its share of motorcycle profits and market share, arch rival Bajaj Auto is gaining spoils and, more importantly, profitably.

Has the rift between the Hero Group and Honda Motor Company (HMC) — which led to Honda walking out of the 26-year-old partnership in December — also contributedto Hero Honda’s profitability loss this fiscal?

Pramod Kumar, analyst with JM Financial, points towards lower growth for Passion and relatively lower margins for Passion Pro, besides a higher marketing spend to deduce that Hero Honda’s profit margins have been eroding.

“For Hero Honda, erosion in profit share has been much higher compared to marginal loss in market share. From a high of 74% of total operating profits (cumulative, top 4) in financial year 2009, its share declined to 51% in the nine months of the current fiscal. We expect domestic motorcycle operating margins in the nine months of this fiscal to be about 13% versus 17% peak in the last fiscal,” Kumar said in a note to clients.

The only bright spot, according to him, is that Hero Honda’s market share has improved to 45% from 41% in the lower-margin, entry segment bikes during the first nine months of this fiscal.

The company also continues to dominate the executive segment.
Another analyst, who declined to be identified, said Hero Honda has been unable to match the success of Bajaj Discover.

“In the first nine months of this fiscal, Bajaj’s motorcycle topline has grown by about 30% against Hero Honda’s 15%. True, Hero Honda’s growth is coming on a larger base but then, the rift between Hero and Honda did take a toll last year … I think Hero Honda should be back on the growth path next year,” the analyst said.

The same analyst said that not only is Bajaj growing profitably, even companies such as TVS Motor have done well this fiscal; also, smaller players such as India Yamaha Motor and Suzuki Motorcycle India are also gradually launching more mass products.

However, a third analyst pointed out that Bajaj’s profitability was much better not only because of its improved margins on two-wheelers but also because almost 40% of its revenues accrue from exports, where the margin profile is better, and another 15-20% from 3-wheelers where the margins are robust.

“Yes, Bajaj brands have scored better than Hero Honda because they are newer brands. I have some concern on the split between Hero and Honda, but it is not significant. The split will not alter business for Hero products, it will mean different branding but also a different cost structure. What I want to se is how much R&D Hero is able to do on its own,” he said.

JM’s Kumar wrote that Bajaj has improved sales mix through Pulsar and Discover brands and the company accounted for 41% of cumulative operating profit of the top 4 players in the first nine months of this fiscal, an 11% improvement since financial year 2008.

During this period, revenue share of the company improved by just 1%, while market share declined by 2%.

Honda India’s approach minus the hero

Honda Scooters and Motorcycles India aimed at the numero uno spot right when they set shop in India and brought back scooter sales from the brink with the now legendary sales scorcher, the Honda Activa. Honda’s alliance constraints with the Munjal group’s Hero Honda meant that Honda never really could get into the bread and butter volumes segment of the Indian motorcycle market.

Due to that, Honda has steadily managed to soldier on with a range of products, all outside the 100cc segment and still has managed to reach the fourth spot in Indian motorcycle sales. Honda isn’t content with this and wants to gun for glory by getting right up to the numero uno position for which it plans to come up with an aggressive strategy.

So, in the near future, we’ll have a 100cc Honda motorcycle, to knock out the likes of the Hero Honda Splendor and the Bajaj Discover 100. If the Honda CB Twister 110′s heady success is anything to go by, Honda might just have another winner on it’s hand that gets it closer to the number one position with very strong volumes in the ultra competitive and challenging 100cc Indian motorcycle segment.

Honda is just about to launch the 2011 CBR250R sports bike for India very soon and with this, Honda’s product launch for 2011 would be complete. The CBR250R, thus far has garnered 2000+ bookings in a record time with young Indian motorcycle enthusiasts very eager to sample the Honda’s latest 250cc entry level sports motorcycle.

What we aren’t too enthused about is the fact that Honda does not anticipate the ultra long waiting periods it’s products in India come saddled with, to go down for the next two years. That’s some bad news from the Honda India camp even as another Honda manufacturing facility is coming up at Tapukara  in Alwar district of Rajasthan by July-August. We hope that Honda also manages to shorten it’s waiting period if it ever hopes to attain the stratospheric sales numbers that Hero Honda has been enjoying for the last decade or so.

India to get Triumph Speed Triple bike

The influx of superbikes from all over the world is increasing day by day. More and more bike manufacturers are keen to enter the Indian market where competition has just started hotting up. God bless competition! Now it is British motorcycle maker, Triumph who seems to be looking at India as a potential market for its high-end bike range.

The company will soon launch the Speed Triple in India says Indiandrives. For the keen bikers among us, it is the latest 2011 model that will come ashore. The bike will be priced at around INR 12 Lakh which means it will go head-to-head with the Kawasaki Z1000 and Honda’s CB1000R.

At the heart of the beast is a 1050cc, inline three cylinder engine with a meaty 128 horsepower at hand. Peak torque figures stand at 81 lb-ft. The new model features a new chassis which alters the steering geometry. Fuel tank capacity has also been reduced while the bike still weighs over 218 kg. 320mm, four-piston upfront and 255 mm two-piston clamps supplied by Brembo perform the anchoring job. Let’s hope that this news turns out to be true and the Speed Triple is indeed launched in India.