Honda eyes 30% share in Indian two-wheeler market, sees potential to grow sales among women

Time of India

3 days ago

Japanese auto major
Honda
is targeting a 30 per cent share in the
Indian two-wheeler market
by 2030, as it chases the goal to achieve half of
global two-wheeler sales
in the long term, according to a top official of the company's arm in India.
The company's arm,
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India
(HMSI), sees huge potential to grow sales among female customers, who currently account for just about 10 % of the overall industry sales, HMSI President Tsutsumu Otani told PTI in an interview.
He also said that while the company sees a shift from internal combustion engine (
ICE
) to
electric vehicles
in the two-wheeler segment in the long term, bottlenecks around charging infrastructure and electricity supplies are major impediments at present.
"Considering the Indian market size, we want to achieve 30 per cent share in India by 2030," Otani said when asked about the significance of the Indian market in Honda's overall long-term goal to garner 50 per cent of global two-wheeler sales.
Currently, he said HMSI has a 27 per cent market share in the Indian market.
Otani said that already in the ASEAN region, Honda has over 80 per cent market share.
Earlier in January this year, Honda Motor Co announced that the industry-wide global motorcycle (two-wheeler) sales, currently at a scale of 50 million units, are projected to grow to 60 million units by 2030, including electric vehicles.
The company has set "a long-term target" for itself to capture a 50 per cent share of the global motorcycle market, including electric motorcycles.
According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the total two-wheeler retail sales in India stood at 1,88,77,812 units in FY25 compared to 1,75,27,115 units in FY24.
HMSI's retail sales in FY25 were 47,89,283 units against 40,93,895 units in FY24. It was the number two player after Hero MotoCorp, which clocked 54,45,251 units in FY25 and 53,97,315 units in FY24.
Otani noted that Honda sees huge potential to tap female customers to increase its two-wheeler sales in India with increasing women empowerment and many of them entering the workforce.
"In India, the overall two-wheeler usage is mostly male, with 90 %, and females just around 10 per cent. It means the potential for two-wheeler sales to grow among the female customers is huge," he said.
When asked about the company's product pipeline programme for the Indian market to achieve the 2030 target, Otani declined to comment, but asserted that, being a global company, Honda has a range of products in its portfolio, which can be considered for India.
Otani said the company will consider a wide range of technologies, including EVs and flex fuels, for the Indian market, considering the different consumer demands in different parts of the country.
Honda had stated that it plans to introduce 30 electric models globally by 2030 to achieve the goal of increasing its global annual sales of electric motorcycle models to 4 million units by 2030.
The company had also said it would strive to capture the largest market share in the electric two-wheeler segment in India, where it will begin operating a dedicated
electric two-wheeler production plant
in 2028.
When asked if the company has finalised the location of the EV-only plant and investments for it, Otani said it has not been decided as yet.
He said in the long term, the shift from ICE to electric vehicles will happen in India, but at present, the bottlenecks around charging infrastructure and electricity supplies are major impediments.