Honda's 110 cc bike won't be running into Hero

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India will be avoiding a direct confrontation with its sister company Hero Honda's models Splendor and Passion when it rides in its 110 cc motorcycle on Thursday. Shinji Aoyama, president and CEO, HMSI told that the subsidiary of Honda Motor Company of Japan, that holds a 26 percent stake in Hero Honda, will be positioning its new bike in a niche segment. Mr Aoyama told that they don’t expect competition with Hero Honda as a joint venture brand. Not in a position to compete the company's position of new model introduction is to expand the market itself. Aoyama believes that they can activate demand specially from youth with this 110cc motorcycle. HMSI is looking forward to launch its 110cc motorcycle on December 10 and it is priced about 10 percent higher than Splendor and Passion. The Passion Pro costs around Rs 44, 000 and the Splendor around Rs 39,250 ex-showroom Delhi. With Hero Honda’s contribution to Honda Motor Company’s global sales growing substantially during the downturn, the Japanese auto major sees no reason to disturb the applecart in the motorcycle market in India, now or after 2014 when Honda’s technical agreement with Hero group comes up for renewal. Honda Siel Cars India president and CEO Masahiro Takedagawa had stated that Hero Honda’s performance helped Honda Motor Company (HMC) buck the global demand skid riding on small, commuter bikes and given how well Hero Honda has performed all through the downturn, "logically Honda sees no reason to split" from Hero Honda. At a million unit sales a year, Hero Honda’s Splendor, is the largest selling single brand in the world. Along with Passion, it shows that the two brands comprise around 50-60 percent of the over 3-4 million units the company sells in a year. HMSI sells around 400,000 motorcycles a year. Its scooter sales comprise 60 percent of its 1.2 million unit a year sales. Bajaj Pulsar 135 and Yamaha R15 are the upcoming bikes in India.