SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 2003
Honda to produce more mobikes in India, China
AFP
TOKYO: The world's top motorcycle maker Honda said on Friday it would sharply step up production in China and India this year in a bid to increase its share of the fast growing markets.
The Japanese company, also a major car maker, will boost its motorcycle production in China this year by 50 per cent to 1.5 million units, a Honda Motor spokeswoman said.
Honda has an eight per cent share of China's booming motorcycle market and hopes to boost this to 30 per cent by 2005 by winning customers in rural areas, she said.
The firm will also increase production in India by 24 per cent to 2.3 million motorcycles this year, according to the spokeswoman.
Honda has about 35 per cent of the Indian market and wants to raise this to more than 50 per cent, she said.
"China and India are both huge markets, with a lot of growth potential," said the spokeswoman.
She said Honda believes there is a large potential market in Asia which remains untapped and the company would strengthen sales and production in the region.
The spokeswoman said the company has not officially finalised its sales targets in value terms yet.
On Thursday, rival Yamaha predicted that total demand for motorcycles in Asia was expected to grow five per cent to 21.1 million units this year.
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