NEW DELHI-- Honda Motor Co. (HMC) on Thursday broke ground for
building a scooter plant in the western Indian state of Gujarat
that it said would be the world's largest dedicated factory for
scooters.
The 1.2-million-unit-a-year facility will be the fourth
two-wheeler factory for Honda in India when it opens toward the end
of 2015, the Japanese auto maker said. Honda will invest 11 billion
rupees ($178 million) to build the facility, which would expand the
company's two-wheeler production capacity in India to 5.8 million
units annually. The company's existing factories are in the states
of Haryana, Rajasthan and Karnataka where it makes both scooters
and motorcycles.
Auto makers such as Suzuki Motor Corp., General Motors Co., Ford
Motor Co. and Tata Motors Ltd. already have factories, or are
building them, in Gujarat, the state that Narendra Modi was chief
minister of for three terms before becoming India's Prime
Minister.
"As the world's biggest two-wheeler market, India is already a
priority market for Honda," said Noriaki Abe, Honda's chief
operating officer for Asia & Oceania. Honda is aiming to sell
18.2 million two-wheelers world-wide in this fiscal year through
March and "India will contribute almost 25% to global Honda sales,"
he added.
Write to Santanu Choudhury at santanu.choudhury@wsj.com
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