Honda Enters Indian E2W Market

India and ASEAN are the two legs that Honda stands on. It has been disappointing that the Japanese giant has let startups lead the way in the Indian scooter market, a market where it has a 50% market share. Honda is now doing catchup with the CUV e: in Indonesia and the Activa e: and QC1 in India

November 27, 2024 — 2 minutes read

Honda Enters Indian E2W Market — *The Honda Activa (above) is a close cousin of the CUV e: (top) launched in Indonesia and Europe; both are based on the SC e: concept from Tokyo 2023*

The Indian market is the world's second most exciting electric two-wheeler market (we rate Africa higher). The roughly 1.2 million-unit market has been divided between new players like Ola Electric and Ather Energy and ICE incumbents TVS, Bajaj, and Hero MotoCorp. One name has been missing in action—Honda.

That changed today as Honda India unveiled two electric scooters. Both look very similar, with only slight visual differences. However, they are quite different in construction and specs.

feature_image — *The Activa e: has a 6kW swingarm-mounted motor and is energized with two Honda MPPs, a 100km range, and an 80km top speed*

*The QC1 has a 1.8kW hub motor and a 1.5kWh fixed battery, with a. 80km range and a 50kph top speed.*

While this was a product unveiling, the scooters will go on sale next year. They will be manufactured at Honda’s Narsapura (Karnataka) plant, which has a total capacity of 2.4m units, split between EV and ICE.

Honda plans to offer battery swap services in Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumbai.

Impact

Honda is a late entrant, and the unveiled scooters and their specs appear quite lackluster compared to scooters from Ola and Ather. However, Honda has always played conservatively in the Indian market, even for the scooter's styling. While Europe and other markets get the CUV e, the Indian market has the Activa e, which has a deliberately toned-down styling.

*The CUV e: has the same underpinnings as the Activa e:, but the Indian version appears more conservative.*

Any Honda launch has to be considered in light of its overall plans in India. Honda has complete dominance in the Indian (and ASEAN) scooter markets and arguably knows the customer better than everyone else. The prices have not been announced, but customers will likely get a battery leasing and swap option, which would make the proposition interesting.