Zero-emission vehicles are being lined up for the future and everyone is joining the trend at their pace. Some are scrambling to outdo the others by bringing innovations and newer concepts to EVs while others like Honda are going in with a numerical advantage as Honda Plans to go big with ambitious plans to ready 10 new two-wheelers for India.
Activa Electric is going to be the first Honda EV. 1.5 lakh is the target set for production for the next year. First Indian markets will be taken care of and then eventually exports to international markets will be started. The plan that the company has is to offer various types of models with varying speeds, bodies, multiple powertrains, and more.
Honda’s EV game plan has been codenamed GJNA and K4BA and work on them has already begun. One is Activa Electric which will come with a fixed battery while the other is a moped that will have a swappable alternative.
Honda is one of the mainstream players who are yet to enter the EV market but by doing so in 2024 it will become the first Japanese two-wheeler brand to enter this industry.
While we know Activa Electric will be the first model to launch, the date set for release is March 2024 and a second model is expected to release in September 2024.
Autocar Professional got intel from a source that half a million units of both these vehicles will be produced cumulatively over three years. However, by the time more models are released by 2026-27, the company will then try to take up the production capacity up to a million.
In the first year, Honda will go for production of 1 to 1.5 million units combined of the two models. However, they expect strong double-digit growth in FY24 which is when they will aim to go for 5 million units.
Honda also started a battery-swapping service back in November 2021 which was aimed at supporting autorickshaws but will now also aid in the company’s bid to expand to the two-wheeler EV segment.
Honda Plans to go big with ambitious plans to ready 10 new two-wheelers for India. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India spokesperson didn’t get into specifics of the plan but assured that the company will unveil their cards on March 29th.
Atsushi Ogata, the President of Honda Motorcycle & Scooters India has in the recent past addressed the premium end of the market and also got the company’s first mass-market motorcycle.
They did so by coming up with Big Wing mid-size motorcycles and Shine 100 respectively. This just leaves them catering to the future of vehicles which is the EV segment.
Ogata in a recent interview mentioned that he expects the penetration of EVs in the market to range between 15 to 25% by the end of the decade and the company plans are based on this prediction. 5 to 7% market penetration had already been achieved in the two-wheeler EV market by new players and old players in unison.
Source: Autocar Pro