Honda Says – ‘Very Difficult’ to Compete With Competitors’ (RE/KTM) Pricing in 300-400cc Segment

Reason Why Honda 250-400cc Motorcycles are NOT Getting launched in India

Cost is one of the biggest issue in our country – for a manufacturer. For example, despite being a fantastic product Suzuki Inazuma bombed in the market simply because buyers did not see enough value with it. And that is because of the benchmarks set by Bajaj/KTM with their 390s and also by Royal Enfield with their 350-500 cc motorcycles. The cost per horsepower or cost per Newton meter of torque has been redefined by these players.

So, whenever some other manufacturer plans to venture into their territories, there are immediate cost concerns. One such glaring truth has been spoken by Minoru Kato, CEO and President HMSI in a word with NDTV Auto.

On their new mid-capacity motorcycle (the RE-challenger) plans he said that the company has a lot of products in the global range between 300 to 400cc. However, they simply can not bring any one of them and sell because the price bar set by competitors is ‘amazing’ and it is very difficult to compete. Here is it in his own words…

“Honda has many products in the line-up in the middleweight capacity of 300 cc or 400 cc products in other countries. But if you look at the price range in this country, our competitors’ strategy is amazing; it’s very difficult to compete. If we introduce a product from the existing line-up which is selling in other countries, it will be very difficult to compete….”

Honda 250-400cc Motorcycles CBR300RR pic
CBR 250RR has been patented in India but launch ‘unlikely’. Click to read report

This is why they now plan to develop a new model from the scratch to compete in this segment. The report also adds that the specific model being talked about will be ‘completely different’ from Honda’s global models in this segment. It will be 100 percent made in India otherwise it will lose its cost-competitiveness and may not be a competition, in essence! Read more details on Honda’s RE Competitor.

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Production of Old CBR 250R Still On; Puts Doubt Over New Model’s Indian Launch

This also, kind of, gives us an idea on why is Honda not very keen on bringing bigger capacity products (between 200 to 400 cc) to India. There appears to be this feeling within that if they bring out the CBR 300R or some other such motorcycle, they may NOT be able to price it competitively and in turn be a laggard. Remember, cost is one of the biggest reason we are NOT getting the Yamaha R15 v3 in India!

This also brings forth the question – Are we Indian motorcyclists becoming too cost-conscious? What do you think…?

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Next Read: R15 vs CBR 150R: a Battle That Never Was