Rumour: Honda working on a Royal Enfield rival

Honda is reportedly working on a middle-weight motorcycle for the Indian market, which will be competing with bikes from the Royal Enfield portfolio. The company is said to have formed a dedicated team of engineers from Japan and Thailand which will be working in India on the said bike.

This information was reportedly revealed by Noriaki Abe, president and chief executive officer (CEO) at Asian Honda Motor Co. Ltd. Abe will be taking over the charge of CEO of Honda's global motorcycle business from April 1, 2017. He has also indicated the possibility of Honda exporting the final product from India to other markets, including Japan. The company hasn't revealed any specific launch timeline for this upcoming bike.

Interestingly, the middleweight motorcycle segment in India has seen growing customer interest in the past couple of years. Eicher Motors Ltd.'s Royal Enfield brand leads the segment and has been recording significant sales growth. However, seeing the potential of the segment, various new manufacturers have now invaded the market, thus increasing the level of competition. Mahindra's Mojo and Bajaj's Dominar are competing in the same segment, while KTM's 390 twins are also clocking satisfactory sales. Honda is thus planning to have a share of this pie with its new bike.

Source: Livemint