Gujarat gets fourth Honda two-wheeler plant

Fuelled by the “Make in India” initiative, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI) has inaugurated its fourth manufacturing plant at Vithalapur in Gujarat today. The new plant, built in a record time of just 13 months, will be used to manufacture 1 .2 million automatic scooters annually. Commercial production of the initial 6 lakh units starts today, and the second line will start operations in mid of 2016, adding another 6 lakh units.

Built at a cost of Rs 1,100 crore the new Honda plant will create over 3,000 job opportunities while Honda’s linked suppliers will usher in another 6,000 indirect employment opportunities. The Japanese subsidiary’s two-wheeler production capacity in India will increase by 26% to 58 lakh units by 2016-end with this plant.

HMSI’s new Vithalpur plant also boasts of many firsts. It is Honda’s first two-wheeler plant worldwide where the entire press shop will be fully automated and operated by robots 24-hours. For the first time in its Indian 2wheeler operations, Honda has introduced vacuum cooling technology and nitrogen pressurization in die-casting, use of digital eye technology in various processes and traceability of in-house parts with QR codes in machine shop. Honda has also introduced higher automation to reduce operator fatigue through fully automated press shop, material handling robots for full frame in weld shop and automatic transfer of front fork assembly in frame assembly.

Elaborating on the trend of increasing demand for automatic scooters in Indian market and how bringing a scooter only plant in India makes business sense for Honda, Mr. Keita Muramatsu – President & CEO, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. said, “Increasing Scooterization, a trend seen earlier in developed markets of the world, is the key driver for Indian 2Wheeler industry today. Leading this change from the front is Honda 2Wheelers - the undisputed market leader in this segment in India with a market-share of 56% and growing. Gujarat is an extremely productive market for Honda. We have a market share of 62% of the scooter segment here. As we gear up to take up this challenge of meeting the customer demand, Gujarat is an ideal home and a springboard to achieve greater heights. Now, the Honda automatic scooter you ride will not only be “Made in India” but also “Made in Gujarat.”

In addition to inaugurating the scooter plant, Honda has also launched Harit Udaan- a rural livelihood support community tree plantation program. This project entails plantation of 10,000 fruit bearing trees in 7 villages of Gujarat.