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Honda has imported one unit of the Grom into India for testing, research and development and evaluation.

The Grom is a scooter-bike with a 124.9cc, single-cylinder, four-stroke, air-cooled, fuel-injected petrol engine and a 4-speed transmission.

The vehicle has disc brakes all-round and rides on 12-inch wheels. Suspension duties are carried out by an inverted fork at the front and a monoshock at the rear.

Earlier this year, Honda launched the Navi in India. The Navi is essentially a Honda Activa, but uses a Grom 125-like body style to make it look more like a motorcycle. The vehicle has received a good response in the country. This could make Honda consider introducing the Grom in India.

Source: Zauba

Honda has sold 10 lakh units of the Dio in India. To celebrate this milestone, the company has given the scooter a style update. 

For 2016, the Dio gets a new Matte Axis Grey colour and a 3D emblem. The scooter is also available in four existing colours - Jazzy Blue Metallic, Candy Palm Green, Sports Red and Black.

There are no mechanical changes to the Dio. It uses the same 109.2cc, single-cylinder, air-cooled petrol engine as before. This unit develops 8 BHP @ 7,000 rpm and 8.77 Nm of torque @ 5,500 rpm and is mated to a continuously variant transmission.

The Dio is also Honda's No.1 export model. It is shipped to countries such as Colombia, Mexico, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

The Honda Dio is priced at Rs. 48,264 (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Suzuki Motorcycle India has announced that it will launch the new Access 125 scooter on March 15, 2016.

The new Access was unveiled at the 2016 Auto Expo earlier this year. It gets a restyled body and measures 1,870 mm in length, 655 mm in width, and 1,260 mm in height with a wheelbase of 1,265 mm and a ground clearance of 160 mm. The scooter has a seat height of 780 mm and a kerb weight of 102 kg.

The Access is powered by a 124 cc, single-cylinder, 2-valve, 4-stroke, air-cooled petrol engine that produces 8.6 BHP @ 7,000 rpm and 10.2 Nm of torque @ 5,000 rpm. The engine is mated to a continuously variable transmission (CVT).

Stopping power is provided by drum brakes all round. However, Suzuki will offer a disc brake at the front as an option. Suspension duties are carried out by a telescopic fork at the front and a swing arm at the rear. The scooter rides on a 12-inch wheel shod with a 90/90 section tyre at the front and a 10-inch wheel with a 90/100 section tyre at the rear. Alloy wheels will also be available as part of optional equipment.

In 2015, Mahindra acquired a majority stake in Peugeot Motorcycles (PMTC). The company also revealed that it was looking at the possibility of introducing some of the French company's products in India.

Mahindra is reported to be planning to position Peugeot scooters against Vespa in India, like in the European markets. For India, Piaggio has cut the prices of Vespa scooters to less than half of what they are in Europe and Mahindra will have to do the same in order to attract buyers.

At present, Mahindra is in the process of synergising operations between Mahindra Two Wheelers (MTWL) and Peugeot Motorcycles (PMTC). The two companies could opt for joint sourcing to optimise operations.

Mahindra's foray into the two-wheeler market has not been very successful. With the introduction of Peugeot scooters, it will look to improve its position.

Source: ET Auto

Apollo Tyres has announced its entry into the two-wheeler tyre market in India. The company has launched the Apollo Acti series tyres for motorcycles and scooters.

The Acti series is designed and developed at Apollo's Global R&D Centre in Chennai and will cover nearly 85% of the replacement market for two-wheeler tyres in India. The company claims that its R&D and product teams have spent more than two years in the development of the tyres. The range consists of both tubeless and tube-type tyres made with polymer-based tread compound.

Motorcycle front tyres:

Apollo Tyres has launched 3 patterns for front application in motorcycles - actiSTEER F1 in straight rib pattern and actiZIP F2 and F3 in directional patterns.

Motorcycle rear tyres:

The company has launched 3 patterns for rear application for motorcycles - actiGRIP R1 and R2 in block pattern, and actiZIP R3 in directional pattern. The block pattern designs covers different applications, such as on-off road and urban & highway in different climatic conditions. The actiZIP R3 is designed for wet and dry grip during highway riding.

Scooter tyres:

Apollo Tyres has introduced two directional patterns for front and rear application in actiZIP S1 and S2, and two block patterns for rear application in actiGRIP S3 and S4.

The Apollo Acti series can be purchased from any Apollo authorised business partner, in all major markets across the country.

The two-wheeler category is growing at a CAGR of 8.5% in India. According to rough estimates, India currently has 120 million two-wheelers. This was one of the reasons that Apollo Tyres decided to foray into the two-wheeler tyre segment.

Ather Energy has unveiled the S340 electric scooter in India. The vehicle is aimed at urban commuters.

The S340 is powered by a Lithium Ion IP67-rated battery pack. Ather Energy claims that this battery pack has a life of 50,000 kms. The vehicle can be charged from a 5A socket in normal mode. In fast charging mode, it achieves 80% charge in 50 minutes. The S340 has a top speed of 72 kmph and a range of 60 km on a single charge.

The scooter has a touchscreen dashboard, which integrates cloud based-data. It comes with features like user profile-based sign in, on-board navigation and pre-configured drive modes like sport and economy. The rider can use the S340 Mobile App to configure ride and profile preferences and sync navigation routes remotely. Predictive analytics and aggregation of ride statistics enable customised recommendations. Customised vehicle updates will be delivered automatically over the air.

Some of the other features of the S340 include disc brakes and LED lights that respond to ambient light conditions.

Ather Energy will start rolling out the S340 from its manufacturing facility in Bangalore by the end of this year. Test rides can be taken in the next few months at experience centres. Ather Energy is planning to build an online-only purchase model with doorstep delivery and service. Pre-ordering will be commence in the cities of Bangalore, Chennai and Pune in the next quarter.

Ather Energy also aims to set up a public charging infrastructure in every city that it operates in, partnering with government and private enterprises.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India has inaugurated its fourth manufacturing plant in India and the plant will exclusively produce automatic scooters. The plant is located at Vithalapur (Mandal taluk, Ahmedabad district, Gujarat) in India. The company has made an investment of INR 1,100 crore for the plant which has been setup in 13 months. Honda’s 22 suppliers have invested an additional INR 1,100 crore as they set up ancillary plants in Gujarat.

Spread over 250 acres, operations of Honda’s fourth plant have been scheduled in two phases, the first of which starts today. The first production line has an annual production capacity of 6 lakh units. This production line will be followed by a 2nd line in mid-2016 that will produce an additional 6 lakh units. In all, Honda will manufacture 1.2 million automatic scooters annually from its fourth plant.

Honda’s total two-wheeler production capacity in India is expected to increase by 26% to 5.8 million units by the end of 2016. This number includes 1.6 million units from its plant in Haryana, 1.2 million units from its second plant in Rajasthan, 1.8 million units from its third plant in Karnataka and 1.2 million units from the fourth plant in Gujarat.

Honda claims that the plant will generate 3,000 jobs directly and 6,000 additional jobs through suppliers who have setup plants of their own in Gujarat. The plant features a fully-automated press shop, vacuum cooling technology and nitrogen pressurization in die-casting, use of digital eye technology in various processes and traceability of in-house parts with QR codes in the machine shop. 

Over 1/3rd of the plant's total area is a dedicated green zone and the facility has a zero liquid discharge plan with a rain-water harvesting system as well.

The Government of India is planning to allow two-wheelers to carry cargo from April 2016.

From the next fiscal, two-wheelers can be fitted with cargo boxes, in which, they will be allowed to carry goods and medical equipment. These boxes are likely to measure up to 550 mm in length and 510 mm in width and have a carrying capacity of up to 30 kg. Bikes fitted with cargo boxes will not be allowed to carry pillion riders.

A new category called the two-wheeler ambulance is also expected to be introduced. While these vehicles cannot transport patients, they will provide medical aid to people living in congested areas where larger ambulances have trouble reaching. The proposal for the introduction of these vehicles was floated in 2013.

Source: Times of India

Image: brettcolephotography.com

Note: Image used for representation purpose only.

Yamaha has inaugurated a new two-wheeler manufacturing facility at Vallam Vadagal in the Kanchipuram district of Tamil Nadu. The plant will roll out the 125cc Saluto motorcycle and scooters including the Fascino, Alpha, Ray and Ray Z.

The new facility, which is located on the outskirts of Chennai, will be the first in the Yamaha Motor group to have a vendor park in its vicinity. It is spread across an area of 177 acres, out of which, Yamaha is using 109 acres and 68 acres have been given to vendor partners. To begin with, Yamaha will employ 2,000 people at its plant. The vendor park has 9 vendors who plan to invest Rs. 1,000 crore and employ around 3,000 people by 2018.

Yamaha will invest Rs. 1,500 crore in phases till 2018 in the new plant. The facility will have an initial production capacity of 4,50,000 units which will be increased to 1.8 million units by 2018. The factory plans to employ 3,900 people by 2018.

The Chennai plant incorporates infrastructure and technologies for zero-water discharge and recycle / reuse of waste water and maximum use of sunlight. The building is compatible with solar power system installation.

Yamaha had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Tamil Nadu in May 2012 to construct and operate the two-wheeler factory in the state.

Yamaha has two other operating factories in India located at Surajpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Faridabad (Haryana). With all three plants in operation, the company plans to have a combined two-wheeler production capacity of 2.5 million units by 2018.

Along with the Maestro Edge, Hero MotoCorp is gearing up to introduce another scooter in India. Called the Duet, this scooter is likely to be positioned against the Honda Activa-i.

The Duet is believed to be powered by a new 110cc engine that has been developed by Hero with inputs from AVL of Austria. This engine is a single-cylindern, air-cooled, aluminium unit that puts out 8-9 BHP. It will be mated to a CVT gearbox.

The images indicate that the Duet gets a handlebar-mounted headlamp with integrated turn-indicators, a V-shaped chrome insert on the front apron, black grab rail, telescopic front suspension and steel wheels. The side fenders sport "Duet" lettering and chrome inserts and the exhaust pipe has a silver cover.

Other features include a lockable storage compartment and silver surround for the instrument cluster.

The Duet is expected to be launched during the upcoming festive season.

Source: Gaadiwaadi