Honda entered the Indian market in 2001 with two scooters – a segment which was believed to be taking its last breath at the time of their arrival. Against all the odds, both the scooters – Activa and Dio – went on churning a large number of volumes for their parent company, which went on to become the second largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the Indian market.

The company has come a long way since then and is on fire to go reach even higher heights. In the process, the Japanese Red has, together with its allied suppliers, invested ₹ 5400 crores ($830.5 million) into the Karnataka plant in Narasapura that just became the biggest two-wheeler manufacturer for Honda in the entire world.

If statistics are to be believed, India is in the highest rankings in terms of growing economy. The market in India sees an upward trend ever since 2010, thanks to the improved rural infrastructure and rising income levels, affordability has become a norm to people from small towns and villages too. Moreover, urban citizens find it easier to operate who wheelers on the streets due to increase in traffic congestion and availability of parking.

Owing to such a growing market, Honda has bet big and opened a new line in the existing Narasapur plant that was until now running only 3 production lines. With this expansion, Honda2Wheeler (India) will have increased its production capacity from 5.8 million to 6.4 million units for the coming fiscal year.

With commitment made towards “Make In India” initiative, HMSI (Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd) invested ₹ 2600 crore ($400 million) directly into the plant expansion and another 26 suppliers added ₹ 2800 crores ($430 million) to set up ancillary plants in Karnataka. With this, HMSI has been able to add 7000 direct employment and another 15000 indirect employment opportunities.

Talking about the plant in Narasapura, Karnataka, it is Honda’s first unit to have 100% rainwater harvesting and Solar power systems to call it “The Green Factory”. As a matter of fact, the plant is committed to using 80% of energy requirements from solar power itself. New state-of-the-art paint booth and cutting-edge automation will improve the plant’s production capacity and efficiency.

They already have captured 59% of the scooter market and are in a race to add two more scooters to the existing line-up. Doing so, the Japanese are gunning for the pole position, grabbing it from its erstwhile partner Hero MotoCorp.