Honda to set up world's largest scooter plant in Gujarat.

Honda Motors, which is swearing by scooters in India, is setting up the world's largest scooter plant in Gujarat to roll out 12 lakh units annually and achieve leadership position in the Indian two-wheeler market, especially with a growing number of customers shifting to this unisex multi-utility mode that has caught the fancy of many and outpaced almost every other segment.

Scooter sales have jumped by 29% in the ongoing fiscal, and now form 27% of the total two-wheeler market from just 8% a decade back. The ever-rising demand for scooters that has far outstripped supply has prompted Honda to set up its first dedicated scooter plant in Ahmedabad. 'Even as we have more than doubled our scooter capacity in India, we have not been able to match up with the demand.

After 13 years of its launch, Activa continues to be on 'waiting' even as competition has multiplied ten times,' said YS Guleria, Honda VP for marketing and sales in India. Honda had fired the imagination of scooter lovers with its Activa - launched way back in 2001.

ET