Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI) has officially announced that the waiting period of its flagship model – Unicorn’s waiting period is increased to 6 months accounting top its huge demand in the Indian bike market.
The Unicorn which was launched way back in 2005 was the first bike in India to boast the housing of Mono Shock suspension at the rear. This made the bike a huge success here. It is very comfortable for long drives and is neither stiff as well. The model’s prime competitors in India are the Pulsar brand of bikes and the Apache RTR series. The bike became very popular as a powerful city commuter pertaining to its easy manoeuvrability in traffic.
A senior company official confirmed that the waiting period has been increased to six months due to the unprecedented demand.He also said PTI, “We have not stopped production. It is well on course. We have only increased the waiting period. It should be available in six months”.
HMSI set up its first manufacturing facility at Gurgaon with an initial capacity of about 16 lakh units to be manufactured annually. But as time passed by, the company kept on showing a northward trend in terms of its production capacity.
In order to increase the production level to minimise the long waiting periods, HMSI recently inaugurated a new manufacturing unit at Tapukara in Rajasthan with an annual capacity of 12 lakh units. The company will also invest around INR 800 crore on the new plant.
The increase in waiting period is not onlt the case with the Uniocorn, but also with its scooterette – Activa and the CB Unicorn Dazzler as well.
HMSI’s most popular selling scooterette Activa comes with a waiting period of four to five months for specific colours like white, gold and metallic silver. However, basic colours like red and black have a waiting period of one to two months, the official said.
With the case of CB Unicorn Dazzler, it currently has a waiting period of three to four months. While CB Unicorn Dazzler models in red and black colour are delivered after 30 days, customers looking for colours like metallic grey and gold need to wait for three months.
HMSI has always been known for its long waiting period not only for its models but for its spares too. Hope the company really works on the case and comes up with a permanent solution of ‘Long Waiting Periods’.
Do you think it is fair from the company’s side to keep increasing the waiting period for its popular models? What have you gotta say about this? Leave us your comments on what you feel about it.
Regards,
M.Naren.
Author – BikeAdvice.in
