Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) that sold five million two-wheelers in the last fiscal, is targeting to increase the sales by 20 per cent in 2017-18, a top company official said today.

The company has registered a 12 per cent growth as against the five per cent recorded by the industry in 2016-17, selling five million vehicles in the process, HMSI President and CEO, Minoru Kato told reporters here.

“Honda Motor India has created a new world record and became the first 100 per cent two-wheeler subsidiary of Honda Motor Company, Japan to cross five million sales landmark in a single year,” he said.

The company which started in 2017-18 with a bang, by selling a total of 1,115,812 units in April-May with a solid 29 per cent growth over 867,393 units units during the same period last year, Kato said and added that India accounted for 30 per cent of the two-wheelers sold by Honda globally. “Forty-five sales outlets will be added this year taking the total to 450,” he said.

The company is launching four new models – two in the motorcycle segment and two in scooters – soon, its Senior Vice-President and Operating head (Sales and Marketing) Yadvinder Singh Guleria, said.

“The company is also planning to make India as its export hub, once the BS-VI emission norms becomes mandatory and at present the company exported 30 to 35 per cent of its production from here,” he said.

Stating that the company is adding six lakh capacity in its Bengaluru plant, which will become operational next month, Kato said that the total production capacity of the company would become 6.4 million units per year HMSI, which has invested rs.600 crore last year, is pumping an investment of Rs.1,600 crore during this fiscal, taking the cumulative investment to nearly Rs. 9,500 crore, Guleria said.