Hero Honda to produce 4.5 mn two-wheelers this fiscal

DAVOS: The world's largest two-wheeler maker Hero Honda on Friday said it will produce over 45 lakh units in 2009-10 from its three facilities in India and will decide on setting up a fourth manufacturing unit within the next six months.

"Despite difficult conditions, we will surely produce 4.5 million units for 2009-10 against 3.7 million units of last fiscal... The market is wanting more," Hero Honda Managing Director Pawan Munjal said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The company, which has three plants at Dharuhera, Gurgaon and Haridwar with a total annual production capacity of about 50 lakh units, has so far sold 34,13,594 units in this fiscal.

Hero Honda had earlier set a target of selling 40 lakh two-wheelers in 2009-10, but later revised it upwards.

When asked about setting up of a greenfield facility, Munjal said, "Very soon we will do a feasibility study. It should take about six months to take a decision."

For the coming fiscal year, Munjal said the company will launch about 8-9 models in order to keep up market expectations of new products and will enhance its presence in the rural areas.

On competition, especially with the revival of Bajaj, he said, "We remain prepared for healthy competition, that provides food for innovation."

Earlier this month, Hero Honda had reported a 78.34 per cent jump in its third quarter net profit at Rs 535.77 crore on the back of a quarterly sales volume of over a million units. It had a net profit of Rs 300.42 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Source: Indiacar.com: Source: Economic Times (1/29/2010)