Honda Bikes in India

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, Private Limited (HMSI) was established in India in 1999. It’s a 100 percent owned Indian subsidy of Japanese giant Honda Motor Company. The company came into existence at a time when it was still having a joint venture with Hero in 1999. Together both the companies ruled the roost in the Indian two-wheeler market. Honda was able to soon establish itself in the Indian market and the product that played a vital role was the Activa scooter. It was launched at a time when e Read more...

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, Private Limited (HMSI) was established in India in 1999. It’s a 100 percent owned Indian subsidy of Japanese giant Honda Motor Company. The company came into existence at a time when it was still having a joint venture with Hero in 1999. Together both the companies ruled the roost in the Indian two-wheeler market. Honda was able to soon establish itself in the Indian market and the product that played a vital role was the Activa scooter. It was launched at a time when every major two-wheeler maker in the country was exiting the scooter segment as they felt motorcycles was the future. But Honda defied critics by launching the Activa which soon gained a cult status owing to its ease of use and the fact that both the sexes could ride it. The Honda Unicorn was the first mass production bike in India to get monoshock suspension and was a popular offering in the 150cc space while the Honda CB Shine became the highest selling 125cc bike globally. The 26 year partnership between Hero and Honda ended in 2011 and since then the Japanese two-wheeler giant has been very aggressive in its approach. It soon became the second largest two-wheeler manufacturer and plans to dislodge its erstwhile partner Hero MotoCorp from the top as the largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the country.