CAN HONDA VAULT TO POLE POSITION?

OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS, honda HAS MADE DEEP INROADS INTO its erstwhile partner hero’s MARKET SHARE IN THE BIKE SEGMENT, WHICH ONCE LOOKED UNASSAILABLE. THE GAP IS still WIDE but honda has been narrowing the lead. And thanks to its LEADERSHIP IN THE SCOOTER SEGMENT, honda thinks it can upset hero’s applecart in the two-wheeler industry

43-6The two-wheeler industry in India, which which was generally thought of as having circumvented the withering effect of the ongoing economic slowdown, seems to have eventually become a victim of anaemic growth sapping the country’s automobile industry. While sales of cars and commercial vehicles have been tapering off for the last many months, now two-wheelers too are going through the wringer even though they have managed to eke out a modicum of growth. But that’s a poor apology for the kind of heady growth witnessed till sometime ago. Now it seems, like their bigger alter ego – the passenger car segment – two wheelers too have hit a speed bump.

According to data given out by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, two wheelers registered a growth of only 3.85% during April-February 2013. The motorcycle segment, which accounts for around 70% of total two-wheeler purchases, reported a dip in sales, owing to tepid demand from the domestic market as well as on the export front. This pulled down the overall two-wheeler sales growth in the period with the segment reporting flattish numbers. For the month of February 2013, the most recent period for which sales performance results have been given out by SIAM, industry leader Hero MotoCorp registered a decline of 4.2% y-o-y to 5,01,271 units. Its sales volumes fell to 1.57 million units during the October-December 2012 quarter from 1.59 million a year earlier. Bajaj Auto, the country’s second-largest two wheeler maker reported a de-growth of 3% on a y-o-y basis with sales of 3,32,387 units as compared to 3,43,777 units in February 2012. Similarly, TVS Motor reported negative growth of 4% y-o-y to 165,696 units in volumes as compared with 172,061 units in February 2012 and 175,931 units in January 2013.

But at a time when most two-wheeler manufacturers are being forced to rethink their sales forecast and future plans, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India is looking to strengthen its position in the market and further bridge the gap between itself and market leader Hero MotoCorp. Within two years of its separation from Hero, Honda has made short work of TVS and Bajaj overtaking them in quick succession to become the second-largest two-wheeler manufacturer in India. According to SIAM’s data, HMSI sold 23.67 lakh units between April, 2012 and February, 2013, as against 54.61 lakh units sold during the same period by Hero. Bajaj Auto, which sold 22.82 lakh units in the same period occupies the third position.

Currently, Hero controls about 42% of the two-wheeler market whereas Honda has about 19% share. But despite the wide gap, Honda’s share has been increasing at a fast clip in recent months. At the end of fiscal 2011, it had a mere 8% of the market but since then it has been relentlessly eating into Hero’s market share, which has declined from 56% two years ago. Clearly, most of Honda’s gain has been at Hero’s expense, since the third competitor, Bajaj Auto, has been stable at about 25% market share, according to SIAM’s data.

44-6Honda’s aggressive solo journey in India’s two-wheeler industry is shaping up well, giving plenty of confidence to the company to recover the top slot it ceded to the Hero group after the duo parted ways in 2011. In an open challenge to its erstwhile partner Hero recently, Honda has said that it could become the No.1 two-wheeler maker by 2015-16 if the industry remained at its current size. Earlier, Honda was working on plans of hitting the numero uno spot by 2020. But owing to its dominance in the scooter segment, which commands a 21% share in the two-wheeler market, Honda feels it’s in a realistic position to make its ambition come true. Currently, it has a market share of 46% in the scooter segment, which is followed by TVS (20%), Hero (16%), Suzuki (10%) and Mahindra 2 Wheelers (5%). Other players like Yamaha and Piaggio have also joined the fray, but being newcomers their market clout is still not formidable.

In order to maintain its edge in the scooter segment, Honda has recently refreshed its models by making them more fuel-efficient. The company has introduced the all new Honda Eco-technology across its Activa, Aviator & Dio range of scooters, making them more fuel-efficient in keeping with its strategic approach of ‘Mileage Up’ for maximizing customer satisfaction. “The new Honda Eco-technology boosts fuel efficiency of Honda’s automatic scooters by further 11%, resulting in a dream mileage of 60kmpl,” says Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Vice President – Sales & Marketing, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India. Forming the crux of the revolutionary Honda Eco- technology is the trio of improved combustion, significantly reduced friction and optimized transmission in the 110cc engine. Honda hopes that its mileage benchmark will reinforce its leadership in the Indian automatic scooter market. “This mileage is a benchmark for scooters around the world. In India, customers have a mindset that the 60 kmpl mileage comes only with motorcycles. But now our scooters have joined the league, which gives us a distinct advantage vis-à-vis the competition,” says Guleria. Honda, which virtually revived the scooter market in India with models like Activa after the exit of Bajaj Auto from the segment, has also been getting aggressive in the motorcycle segment. The company has announced that it will launch new bike models every quarter, which it hopes will propel it to become the top player in the two-wheeler market in the next three years. At the recent launch of its new 150cc bike CB Trigger, Honda Motor Co’s Chief Operating Officer Shinji Aoyama said: “Today the market is almost 1.4 crore units in India. So, if it remains at the same level, with no growth happening, we may become No. 1 in 2015 or 16.” Interestingly, Honda’s sales figures are remarkable ahead of the 4% industry average and while sales of Hero have gone down by 1.2% in FY2012-13, Honda has witnessed strong growth of 37% during the same period.

45-6Buoyed by the numbers, Honda is planning for new launches in the price range of Rs.40,000-20 lakh, which will include economy bikes, automatic scooters, premium street bikes, sports bikes, big scooters, hybrid scooters, super bikes and commuter bikes. The company, in a bid to further consolidate its market share in the 150cc bike segment, recently introduced the CB Trigger, which will take on the Hero Hunk, Bajaj Pulsar, Yamaha FZ and TVS Apache. Honda hopes the CB Trigger will help pull some customers away from the top-selling Pulsar 150. But Honda is comfortably placed in relation to Hero, which sells Hunk, Karizma and Impulse in this segment. Between April and October in FY13, Honda sold 54,347 units more in the 125-150cc segment than Hero, despite not having introduced any new products in the category. It’s CBR150R and Unicorn have been selling well and the introduction of CB Trigger will lend further consumer traction for its 150cc bikes — a category that contributes over 11% to overall motorcycle sales, but has strong revenue implications. Product prices are 45-92% higher for 150cc models than that of a model in the entry-level mass segment, which translates into higher margins for companies.

Even in the entry level 75-110cc bike segment, which accounts for about 64% of motorcycle volumes and in which Hero is the undisputed leader with the likes of the Splendor, Passion and Dawn motorcycles dominating sales charts, Honda is looking to make deeper inroads. Its launch of the Dream Yuga 110 has allowed the Japanese two wheeler major to make a dent on Hero’s sales. Apart from the Dream Yuga, the company sells the 110cc CB Twister in the segment. In the years ahead, Honda is looking to chip at Hero’s sales leadership in this segment and is said to be mulling a new entry level commuter motorcycle that could be priced between Rs.30,000 and Rs.40,000. At this price, the new Honda 100cc motorcycle is expected to be the least priced offering from the Japanese brand for the Indian commuter motorcycle market. To compete with Hero, whose dealership and after sales reach in India’s hinterland remains unmatched by any other two wheeler maker in the country, Honda last year launched a new ad campaign ‘Sach Kar Denge Sapne’, to connect emotionally with customers across all demographics by associating with Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar, who is now its Brand Ambassador. In its essence Honda’s ad expresses the company’s vision and its intentions to make India as the center of its global two-wheeler business for the coming times, and it calls upon associates and customers ‘to share our dreams with others and make them a reality’. The choice of Akshay as its brand ambassador is significant as he captures the essence of Brand Honda by truly personifying individual dedication and passion to achieve one’s most significant dreams.

But fleshing out one’s dreams calls for expending lots of toil and sweat. Though Honda has a reputation for being a technological powerhouse, it is not resting on its spurs. To maintain its edge in technology, the company has set up its first integrated R&D centre at Manesar, which will specifically develop two-wheelers for the country and will also launch both refreshed versions and new models of motorcycles and scooters from the centre. Honda is also about to start a third manufacturing facility at Narsapur in Karnataka, which will ramp up its overall production capacity to 4,000,000 two-wheelers per annum.

Honda has also embraced the 4S concept, i.e. striving for the best in terms of sales, service, spares & safety. “Customer satisfaction remains our top priority and this can be experienced at our 4S centres where our objective is to provide consistently high standard products and best-in-class services,” says Guleria. The Japanese auto maker wants to make India a global innovation hub, and will continue carrying out product innovations that would help make it a one-stop centre of choice for all kinds of two wheelers. The past couple of years have seen Honda make all the right moves – whether it’s launching new products, refreshing existing ones or ramping up its production and distribution network; and with its rich legacy of technology it is well placed to turn its dream into a self-fulfilling prophecy.