Honda Starts Second Assembly Line At Gujarat Plant

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) have inaugurated a new assembly line at its fourth manufacturing plant in Gujarat. The second assembly line will be exclusively for scooters and is also where the Activa will be manufactured. The Activa has been a highly successful product for Honda, earning the title of India’s largest selling two-wheeler in the market.

The current production capacity of the Vithalapur plant in Gujarat was 6 lakh units annually, which has now reached 12 lakh units with the addition of the new assembly line. This expansion increases HMSI’s total annual production capacity to 5.8 million units, including 1.6 million units at the first plant in Haryana, 1.2 million units at the second plant in Rajasthan, 1.8 million units at the third plant in Karnataka and another 1.2 million units at the fourth plant in Gujarat.

Commenting on the new achievement, Keita Muramatsu, President & CEO - Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India said: “India is not only the World’s No. 1 two-wheeler market but is also going to be the No. 1 contributor to Honda global 2Wheeler sales for the first time in this fiscal year 2016-17. Scooterization, a trend seen earlier in developed markets of the world, is firmly driving the Indian 2Wheeler momentum today. The scooter segment is growing at 30% compared to 15% growth of two-wheeler industry.” 

Further on, with the production setup of the distributors being present across three geographical regions of the country, it gives Honda a faster reach to its customers, thus strengthening their trust in the brand. For the Gujarat plant, Honda, along with its 23 vendors, have reported a combined investment of close to Rs 2,200 crore. New employment opportunities of nearly 9,000 have also been generated in the state. The company is also in the process of directly employing close to 3,000 associates for the fourth plant with an entailed total investment of Rs 1,100 crore.