Honda has inaugurated the fourth assembly line at its Narsapura manufacturing plant in Karnataka. With this, the Narsapura plant now becomes the biggest motorcycle manufacturing facility for the Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer.
The fourth manufacturing line has added 6 lakh units to Honda’s annual capacity. With the fourth manufacturing line now becoming functional, the Narsapura plant has an annual capacity of 24 lakh units. The line features a higher level of automation in machine shop, paint shop and weld shop, to improve efficiency. With this, India now has become the biggest production base for Honda worldwide, with an annual capacity of 64 lakh units.
While Honda has a presence in 120 countries, India has now become the biggest contributor to its two-wheeler business, accounting for 28 per cent of its total sales last year. Apart from the Narsapura plant, Honda has three more manufacturing facilities in Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat, and all the plants are running at their full capacity. Honda aims to topple Hero MotoCorp as the country’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer by 2020. However, the company has no plans to further increase its capacity, as of now.
