Honda's plans for a Royal Enfield rival put on hold

We recently reported about Honda's plans to enter the middle-weight motorcycle segment in India with a new product that can compete against the Royal Enfield brand. However, just one month after these speculations surfaced, Honda Motorcycles & Scooter India's President and CEO - Minoru Kato has indicated that plans for an RE rival for India have been put on hold.

The CEO has further commented that Honda Motorcycle's estimated cost competitiveness in the middle-weight motorcycle segment as of now isn't enough to develop and sell an RE rival at a lucrative price. While the company has managed to achieve very cost-competitive prices in high volume segments, it doesn’t have a significant presence in the middle-weight (250 cc - 500 cc) segment in India. As a result, Honda has currently put on hold its plans for an all-new RE rival for the Indian market.

Instead, the Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer will be launching three new models this year. The 1000 cc Africa Twin is expected to be introduced in India next month.

Source: Livemint