HOW HONDA IS BRAVELY FORAYING INTO ECO-FRIENDLY BS 6 WORLD

The two-wheeler industry in India is optimistic about its growth in the future as it prepares for an environment-friendly transition

India, the world’s largest twowheeler industry, is undergoing the biggest transformation in the new decade of 2020 i.e. the transition from the BS 4 emission to the more environmental friendly BS 6 regime. What makes this transition a little more challenging is the continuous slowdown in the demand stretching well into the 13th month. The sharp demand plunge which started in September of 2018 with the sudden insurance premium hike was further aggravated by ABS/CBS norms implementation and the NBFC crisis. The BS 6 implementation is further said to increase the price points of two-wheelers by another 10-15 per cent.

Cumulatively, in about 18 months, the cost of two wheeler ownership has roughly gone up by a whopping 25 per cent.

Honda two wheelers, however, is confident of India’s long-term story. We expect the market demand to remain stressed till the festival time of next fiscal. The market growth potential however is still very vibrant as factors like improving road infrastructure, stressed public transport infrastructure, increasing women workforce and shortening of two wheeler ownership period will continue to drive new demand for mobility in India.

A case in point of Honda’s future-readiness, is the PGMFI technology which has already won over 55 million fans in ASEAN region. And more importantly, even in India, we became the first movers to start selling the mass BSVI two wheelers as early as six months before the regulation implementation with the launch of Activa125 BSVI with 26 patent applications filed in India.

Our BS 6 line-up is ecofriendly as well as pocketfriendly with a mileage of up to 16 per cent. Within four months of its launch and subsequent introduction of our first BS 6 motorcycle SP125 followed by recent BS 6 Avatar of Activa 6G, Honda’s environmental and technology stewardship has won over one lakh customers.

There is a lot of buzz around Electric Vehicles (EVs) in the industry. However, with respect to the Indian market, a lot more still needs to be ensured to move the EV needle from customer acceptability point of view, especially in areas of affordability, longer battery life, range and performance, adequate charging infrastructure, and incentivizing faster adoption to realise the EV vision. The change, indeed, is going to be challenging. Since the industry will migrate to EV, there will be a possibility of employment re-alignment as well; as the entire manufacturing ecosystem will get an overhaul. Taking the first step in this direction, Honda will begin the feasibility study for EV in India in 2020.