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A brief history of HMSI (Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India)

The beginnings of Honda can be traced back all the way to the end of World War II, where Soichiro Honda decided to mount a former Imperial Army generator engine to a bicycle to produce affordable and efficient mobility for the masses of war-ravaged Japan. Soon Honda became a manufacturer of bicycle auxiliary engines and in the years that followed, started producing proper world class motorcycles. But it was the 1954 Honda Super Cub that really shot the company to global acclaim. The Super Cub is important even in the Indian context as a motor derived from the Cub became the mainstay of the Japanese company’s joint venture with Hero in India.

Honda of Japan entered India back in 1984 with two main tie-ups. One with Hero to produce small capacity 4-stroke commuter motorcycles such as the Hero Honda CD100, which featured a “sloper” motor derived from the Cub. The other was with Pune-based Kinetic Motors to produce what would be India’s first automatic scooter, the 2-stroke Kinetic Honda DX. But the Japanese bike maker parted ways with Kinetic in 1998 and entered India as Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Company, Japan. It was then they launched their own automatic scooter, the 4-stroke Activa, which quickly became the company’s best selling bike and India’s best selling scooter, and remains so till date.

At the same time, HMSI also started making motorcycles, one of the most popular of which was the Honda Unicorn, and later the Honda Shine. It was in 2011 that the joint venture between Hero and Honda ended and both companies went their separate ways. While Hero continued to enjoy record breaking sales with the Splendor (originally a Hero Honda bike), it was the Activa (and also the Shine to a certain extent) that elevated HMSI to the position of 2nd largest 2-wheeler maker in India. In 2020, HMSI also took on the might of the Royal Enfield Classic 350 with their own classic motorcycle, the H’ness CB350.

Today, HMSI offers a range of Indian manufactured 110-125cc scooters, 110-350cc motorcycles and even CKD and CBU big bikes such as the CBR650R Fireblade, Africa Twin and even the mammoth tourer, the Gold Wing.