Honda

This is the first time that Honda Motorcycle and Scooter pipped Hero Motocorp in retail sales. Hero MotorCorp on Saturday said it had dispatched 519,980 units of motorcycles and scooters in the month of September 2022 for sales. It also said it is geared up to launch its first-electric vehicle, VIDA on October 7.

The new company, which is named Sony Honda Mobility, will aim to bring together the expertise of Honda and Sony. "Based on our vision to 'make the mobility space an emotional one', Sony's initiatives in the mobility business are centred around the three areas of safety, entertainment and adaptability," Kenichiro Yoshida, Representative Corporate Executive Officer, Chairman, President and CEO, Sony Group Corporation, said in a statement.

Over the next 10 years, Honda will allocate approximately 5 trillion yen ($40 billion) in the area of electrification and software technologies to further accelerate its electrification, including both R&D expenses and separate investments. Honda's overall R&D expenses budgeted for this period will be approximately 8 trillion yen, the company said in a statement late on Monday.

HIPP has been consistently introducing latest technology products with global standards and bringing joy to its customers since 1985. The company has been a trusted partner in progress for its valued customers in line with its vision of "Empower People, To Do Better".

Besides, preference for personal mobility due to the pandemic as well as healthy rural consumption led OEMs to post healthy sequential growth numbers in March. Two-wheeler major Hero MotoCorp sold 576,957 units of motorcycles and scooters in March 2021, registering a growth of 72 per cent over 334,647 units sold in the corresponding month in the previous year.

According to the company, 20 years ago when the scooter market in India was fast declining, Honda made its solo entry with its first two wheeler - the 102cc Activa in 2001. "Powered by true technology leadership and evolution ahead of times, it took the Activa brand 15 years to achieve the initial 1 crore customers in 2015," the company said in a statement.

Honda's total sales in December closed at 263,027 units from 255,283 units sold during the corresponding period of the previous year. The company said demand recovery has continued post the festival season as two-wheeler YoY sales uptick sustained for the fifth consecutive month in December.