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HMSI Plans BS-IV Compliance For All Models By 2016 End

Posted 8 years ago by QuikrCars | 729 views

The two-wheeler segment in India will see a host of new regulations which are set to be implemented from the April of 2017. Most of these regulations are aimed at increasing the safety of riders. However it also includes the deadline for the implementation of Bharath Stage IV (BS-IV) emission regulations from April 2017 for all new vehicles.

We have not officially heard of any response to this by any manufacturers except Honda Motorcycles & Scooters India (HMSI). HMSI has planned to take an early stance and upgrade all of its two-wheelers to meet the BS-IV regulations by the end of 2016 itself.

HMSI has a fleet of 24 models in its portfolio including the scooters. The President and Chief Executive of HMSI, Keita Muramatsu said that every month will see at least one model being updated or introduced in 2016. He also acknowledged the fact that the implementation of the BS-IV compliance and other features such as Combi Brake System (CBS) might further increase the costs. However he was determined that they would find a cost effective solution to this issue.

Meanwhile, HMSI will be starting a new manufacturing plant near Ahmedabad, Gujrat. The new plant will be solely dedicated for manufacturing scooters and will have an annual capacity of 1.2 million units. This comes as a result of the fast increase in demand for scooters. The waiting period for the Honda Activa is around six-months currently and all the three existing plants are already running at 100 percent capacity. The cost of commissioning the new scooters-only plant in Gujrat will be around Rs. 1,100 crores and will begin by the end of December. This new plant will be the single largest plant dedicated for the production of scooters in the world.

Speaking about the two-wheeler market in the coming year, the Vice President, Sales & Marketing, HMSI, Y S Guleria said, “We expect the two-wheeler market to do a little better than this year in the range of 3-5% in FY16-17 as the rural market is still under stress. So we don’t see any turnaround in the six months at least. The main growth driver for the two-wheeler industry would be scooters and we have also seen revival in the 125cc category and some momentum in the 150cc category, so primarily the growth will come from urban and semi urban markets.

The year 2017 will see new mandatory regulations such as the combinational brakes for vehicles below 125 cc and ABS for bikes above 125cc. Automatic Headlight On feature would also be standard for all new two-wheelers as part of the new regulations. Honda has decided to get on with the new regulations as early as possible. We will have to wait and see how the other manufacturers plan to tackle this situation.

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