Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India will set up 1,000 touch points across the country in a year and 70 percent of this will come up in rural areas in a straight bid to take on market leader Hero Motocorp.
A report on the Economic Times says that the company is setting up a new 'Rural vertical' to achieve this. This vertical will not only be in charge of improving the network, the report says, but it will also focus on rural market specific R&D.
The rural vertical team, says the report, will consist of 15 members who will all look into strategising a new approach to the rural market. At present, around 30-33 percent of the company's sales comes from the rural markets and the new vertical's mandate is to boost this to 45 percent.
Market leader Hero Motocorp has between 4,000-5,000 touch points, says the report, and Honda aims to take its tally from the present 2,850 to 4,000 by the end of the 2015 fiscal year.
Honda's sales have been rising in the last two years. Within 2 years of its launch, Honda managed to sell around 8 lakh units of its entry-level Dream Yuga bike. The Honda Activa 110 cc scooter was also the highest selling two-wheeler in the country for 2 months in 2014 so far.
In 2013, Honda managed to sell 36 lakh units as opposed to the 61 lakh units Hero Motocorp sold.
[Source - Economic Times]
