Honda Needs to Course Correct in India

About a year back, we looked at where Honda was in its electrification journey. The world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer, with an estimated 35% share of the global two-wheeler market, had just started taking baby steps when it came to electrification.

Honda’s e: 2W plans

Honda controls 35-percent of the global two-wheeler market. Yet, when it comes to electric two-wheelers, the Japanese brand has been slow. Is it just them being typically Japanese, or have they been deliberately lazy?

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Was Honda deliberately slow? Was the company's strategy so grand that it would take years to roll out? Was it even a believer?

So many questions...

Or was it simply the market leader's inertia that had turned it into a deer caught in the headlights?

Deer in the headlights: Honda’s e:2W plans

By going slow, Honda has allowed Chinese and Indian start-ups to leap-frog ahead. As the Japanese giant wakes up, is the market evolving too fast for Honda?

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0Since then, Honda has been active and has launched two electric scooters each in its most important markets. In India, Honda has introduced the Activa e: and the QC1. In Indonesia, the company has the CUV e: and Icon E: scooters. Ditto, Vietnam. Meanwhile, the European markets get only the CUV e: for now.

But is that enough, in a market like India?

The Indian market is the most important one for Honda. It is the biggest market for the Japanese manufacturer - in FY 2025 (Apr 2024 - Mar 2025), Honda sold nearly 5.33 million two-wheelers in the Indian market. Nearly half of them have been the Activa 110cc/125cc commuter scooter.

The Activa was first launched in May 1999 in India with a 100cc engine and has since then gone through multiple variations, styling updates, and engine upgrades, even though the core offering remains the same.

Throughout most of its market presence, the Activa has been the scooter market leader by a huge margin. Its market dominance has been unchallenged, even though other manufacturers like Suzuki and TVS also have very popular scooters.

Till now, that is.

India also has a fast-growing electric scooter market with more than 1.15 million units sold in 2024. The growth of the market and the fact that both Suzuki and TVS have significantly better products have seen a steady erosion of Honda's scooter market share over the last five years.