In conversation: Keita Muramatsu of Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India

Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India has now launched the Dream Yuga 110 commuter motorcycle in the two metros of the country, Delhi and Mumbai. The motorcycle is a very important launch for the Japanese two wheeler maker, as it seeks to make inroads into the high volume commuter motorcycle segment in India, a segment dominated by the likes of Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto. Our correspondent Melvyn D’Souza got in touch with Honda’s top honchos, president and managing director, Keita Muramatsu, and vice-president of sales and marketing, YS Guleria, to know more about Honda’s future plans.

2012 Honda Dream Yuga 110 Commuter Motorcycle

Honda Dream Yuga 110 used as an illustration

Questions posed to Keita Muramatsu

Does Honda have plans of launching 400cc or 600cc motorcycles positioned at the sports motorcycle segment in India in the next year or so?

Although this segment is doing well in South East Asia, we are currently concentrating on the Indian market where the customer looks out for more benefits for the value of his money. Since the split from Hero Motocorp, where they have the largest base of selling commuter bikes, Honda’s plan is to achieve that goal within the next 2 years. So for the next 2 years Honda is going to specifically concentrate on the 100CC/110CC commuter bike segment. That said and done, we don’t rule out introducing the 400CC/600CC bikes in the near future. They are closely studying the Indian market for the demand of the bikes from this segment and when its time to launch one of these, Honda will announce it appropriately.

Recently, there have been rumors swirling around regarding Honda bringing an on-0ff road motorcycle based on the Honda CBR250R’s engine platform to India. Is there any substance to these rumors?

As of now, Honda has no plans of launching an on-off road motorcycle in India.

With the number of launches in the automatic scooter segment hotting up, does Honda have any plans of expanding its automatic scooter line up in the near future?

As of now, Honda has no plans to launch new models of automatic scooters. We will focus on the three scooter line up comprising of the Activa, Dio and Aviator.
Questions posed to Mr Yadvinder S Guleria:

Do you plan to launch any other entry level model below the Dream Yuga 110?

Honda’s plans for 2012, as announced at the Auto Expo, was the launch of 7 new products. The Dream Yuga 110 is the 7th. So, we have no other new launches lined up for this year.

Why there is no front-disc brake in the top model of the Dream Yuga 110?

A customer will look out for all free features without paying that extra price. Hence it becomes very difficult to have all the extra features, keeping in mind the low end price of the Dream Yuga. As of now, there are no plans to launch a variant of the bike with the front-disc brake.