Honda to build 2nd motorbike plant in India+

TOKYO, March 9 Kyodo -
Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday it will boost its motorcycle production in India
to meet robust local demand by building a second plant there.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned local unit of the
company, aims to operate the planned facility in an industrial area in
Rajastan, about 90 kilometers from central Delhi, from the second half of next
year with annual output capacity projected at 600,000 units, Honda said.
The existing plant in India will raise its annual production capacity to 1.55
million units by the end of this month and to 1.6 million units next year from
the current 1.25 million units, the company said.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter expects to employ some 2,000 workers by the time
production peaks. The investment cost is estimated at about 4.7 billion rupees
(some 8.9 billion yen).
The Indian subsidiary, which began production in 2001, sold 1.09 million
motorbikes last year, up 111 percent from a year earlier and hitting a record
high for the ninth year in a row.
India represents the world's second-largest motorcycle market next to China.
Motorbike sales in India more than doubled last year to 8.78 million units.
==Kyodo
2010-03-10 00:22:00