1 New Honda Bike and 18 Upgrades Are Coming: Honda has a tough game plan for FY 2018-19 as they are investing INR 800 crores in establishing more touch points for Honda users and updating their existing lineup of products. They have planned to upgrade 18 products from existing lineup while one all new product will also launch during this period.
Honda retails 11 motorcycles and 7 scooters in India. If we consider that Navi could be axed anytime from their lineup, these 18 products can get required updates to counter the upcoming emission as well as safety norms. Honda may consider making them BS6 compliant before 2020 deadline.
Those which are above 150cc could get ABS as standard while others may use CBS for better braking before April 2019. More than that, Honda could introduce LED lights on most models. Coming back to an all new product, chances are high that Honda may join the twin cylinder bandwagon of Kawasaki and Yamaha through introduction of highly awaited CBR250RR.
The motorcycle may feel less powerful on paper but practically, it looks sharper and much more aggressive than both others. Honda CBR250RR is using a 249.7cc, twin cylinder engine producing 39 HP and 23.3 Nm of torque.
If they enter this segment, potential rivals will have to lose some of their share due to high number of Honda fans in India. Also, Honda may discontinue two other least selling products from local production lineup if they wish to include CB1000R and Africa Twin in the list of 18 update awaiting products.
Entire Honda local production lineup is based on 110cc (9, excluding Navi), 125cc (4), 150cc (1), 160cc (3) and 250cc (1) engine options. The bulk of 110cc options can be trimmed easily for betterment of existing products. Honda is also planning to take total touch point count to 6000 in FY 2018-19.
