The inadequate monsoon rains in parts of India is likely to impact the demand for two-wheelers to some extent, according to Keita Muramatsu, President and CEO, Honda Motorcycle & Scooters India Pvt Ltd (HMSI).
Talking to presspersons here on Tuesday after inaugurating the company’s first zonal office in India, he said HMSI is revamping its rural and semi-urban marketing network. However, there are no plans to offer incentives in the coming festive season to boost sales. The company currently has a 30 per cent penetration in the rural and semi-urban markets.
In order to further improve its after-sales service network, HMSI will set up 20 zonal offices with their centres imparting training to nearly 2,000 technicians from within the dealers’ network in the next two years.
The company, which recently appointed Bollywood star Akshay Kumar as its brand ambassador, has so far invested Rs 5,000 crore in India, including Rs 1,500 crore on its Karnataka plant scheduled to open in 2014, as also expansion of network. With this, the company’s production capacities will increase from 27 lakh to 40 lakh two-wheelers annually, mostly to cater to the domestic demand. The company has no immediate plans for any further investments on setting up new plants, he added.
