Honda To Take On Royal Enfield With Neo-retro Roadster

Even though Royal Enfield has been struggling in terms of sales for the last couple of months, it still remains the largest manufacturer of mid-size capacity motorcycles in India. The Royal Enfield 650 twins’ success has now led to companies like Bajaj along with Triumph and even Harley-Davidson making plans to dip their toes in this segment. In 2017, Honda had mentioned that it is working on an all-new platform and powertrain to rival Royal Enfield’s offerings. The Japanese manufacturer is expected to follow the Triumph formula of offering different genres of motorcycles based on a single platform. Now, company officials have confirmed that the first of these bikes will be launched within the next 18 months.

The upcoming Honda motorcycle will be powered by a single-cylinder engine with displacement around 300cc to 500cc, which will help the company price its upcoming motorcycles quite competitively. The first of these motorcycles will be a neo-retro roadster. If things go according to plan, then Honda might even start exporting the made-in-India bike to other countries by 2023.

Meanwhile, the bike maker is in the process of converting its BS4 models to BS6 versions. Hence, it is highly unlikely that Honda will unveil a new offering soon. However, we can expect the manufacturer to pull the wraps off the BS6-compliant 110cc Activa at the 2020 Auto Expo. Honda has also announced that it will be increasing its dealer network to 100 outlets in 22 major cities by the first half of 2021.