Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI), India’s second-largest two-wheeler maker, has launched a new overseas market vertical with the aim of increasing export volumes, the company announced on Thursday.
HMSI, the local arm of Honda Motor Company Ltd., Japan, which wants to make India the global manufacturing center for two-wheeler exports, has created the new vertical as part of an internal reorganization that will put together more than 100 associates from various roles to focus on increasing exports.
The announcement comes a day after HMSI’s director of distribution, communications, aftersales, logistics, and premium bike company, Yadvinder Singh Guleria, spoke at an ET Auto panel discussion titled “Recap FY21 and Mission FY22” on Wednesday, citing exports as a major opportunity for Indian two-wheeler firms.
As the domestic market experienced a recession in FY 2019-20, the two-wheeler industry looked to increase export volumes. Total two-wheeler exports increased 7.30 percent year on year to 3.52 million units in FY20, according to Siam numbers. Last fiscal year, however, this development was reversed as export volumes fell due to the pandemic-induced global crisis.
“At the moment, exports account for just 5% of Honda’s overall output. But in the next 2-3 years, this will become a far larger pie,” Guleria told ET Auto yesterday.
Meanwhile, Honda 2Wheeler India today announced that the latest vertical – ‘Overseas Business Expansion’ – would drive the company’s desire to sell world-class two-wheelers to the world’s most advanced two-wheeler markets.
The newly created vertical, which will be based at the company’s Manesar unit, will bring together SEDBQ (sales, engineering, production, purchasing, and quality) functions under one roof to build a globally optimal operating structure, according to the company. As part of that, Honda said the new vertical would integrate the company’s export-import sales role with quality, procurement, growth, homologations, manufacturing, and logistics in order to capitalise on new synergies.
“With an eye on the future, HMSI aims to further consolidate its No. 1 spot in Honda’s global motorcycle market while unlocking the next chapter of ‘Make in India, for India and the World’ in the BS-VI era,” said Atsushi Ogata, managing director, founder, and chief executive officer of HMSI.
“Through this big organizational transformation, the group is reinforcing its corporate constitution and enhancing productivity in order to fulfill Global Honda’s high expectations,” he said.