Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India Pvt. Ltd will open a technical center at its Manesar production facility that will contribute to the company’s global operations. It will invest $30 million and hire 200 people for the center, to which it will shift the two-wheeler segment of Honda Research and Development India, a subsidiary of Honda R&D, Japan.
“The new technical center will standardize, optimize and synergize our glocalized approach in India with Honda’s cutting edge R&D capabilities across the globe and a deep understanding of local environment,” said Keita Muramatsu, president and chief executive, HMSI. The centre will help the company localize 100% in India, said Yadvinder S. Guleria, vice president, sales and marketing, of Honda. Apart from this, the company plans to increase annual production capacity.
“With our third facility coming up near Bangalore, we will be able to increase our total installed capacity to 4 million in 2013-14 from our current capacity of 2.8 million,” said Guleria. “The production will start (at the third facility) in the first quarter of FY14.”
The company currently has two plants, one in Manesar and other in Tapukara, Rajasthan. “We expect to increase our customer base to 15 million by 2013-14 from the current 10.5 million,” Guleria said. “The company will also expand its network to 2,000 touch points for customers by the end of this fiscal, with a focus on tier 2 and tier 3 cities, from the current 1,653 touch points.” The company expects sales to reach 2.75 million vehicles by the end of 2012-2013, an increase of 31% over last year.
