Production from HMSI's fourth plant to be delayed

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) today said the operationalisation of its fourth plant in Gujarat will be delayed by about a quarter and will start production in the beginning of 2016.
"Due to the elections earlier this year, there has been a delay in the start of work at the Gujarat plant. We expect to start production at the plant in first quarter of 2016 instead of last quarter of 2015 as planned earlier," HMSI Keita Muramatsu told PTI here on the sidelines of SIAM annual convention.
The company is investing Rs 1,000 crore to set up the plant that will have an annual capacity of 1.2 million units.

HSMI has started ground levelling work at the plant now, he added.
"This will be mainly for scooter and once the plant comes into operations, it will give us the flexibility at the three other plants to adjust motorcycle production to meet demand," he said.
The company will have a total annual production capacity of 5.8 million when the fourth plant at Gujarat goes on full steam.

The company currently has three plants at Manesar (Haryana), Tapukara (Rajasthan) and Narsapura (Karnataka).
Ahead of the festive season, HMSI has also increased production of its scooter production.
It is currently producing over 15,000 units a day, which is up to 20 per cent more than what it had produced in the past, with the starting of third line at its Karnataka plant.

While he declined to share a detailed product launch plan, Muramatsu said the company will launch the CBR650 motorcycle next year that will be positioned as one of the its flagship bike brands in India.