Honda Starts Work On Plant in India

NEW DELHI-- Honda Motor Co. (HMC) on Thursday broke ground for building a scooter plant in the western Indian state of Gujarat that it said would be the world's largest dedicated factory for scooters.

The 1.2-million-unit-a-year facility will be the fourth two-wheeler factory for Honda in India when it opens toward the end of 2015, the Japanese auto maker said. Honda will invest 11 billion rupees ($178 million) to build the facility, which would expand the company's two-wheeler production capacity in India to 5.8 million units annually. The company's existing factories are in the states of Haryana, Rajasthan and Karnataka where it makes both scooters and motorcycles.

Auto makers such as Suzuki Motor Corp., General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Tata Motors Ltd. already have factories, or are building them, in Gujarat, the state that Narendra Modi was chief minister of for three terms before becoming India's Prime Minister.

"As the world's biggest two-wheeler market, India is already a priority market for Honda," said Noriaki Abe, Honda's chief operating officer for Asia & Oceania. Honda is aiming to sell 18.2 million two-wheelers world-wide in this fiscal year through March and "India will contribute almost 25% to global Honda sales," he added.

Write to Santanu Choudhury at [e-mail]

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