Who Is The World's Largest Two Wheeler Manufacturer?
- Thread starter KZ
- Start date
Intresting,, this is what Honday Hero corporate profiles says about it:
Today, every second motorcycle sold in the country is a Hero Honda bike. Every 30 seconds, someone in India buys Hero Honda's top-selling motorcycle – Splendor.
Hero Honda's extensive sales and service network now spans close to 4500 customer touch points.
2009-10 Performance
Total unit sales of 46,00,130 two-wheelers, growth of 23.6 per cent
Total net operating income of Rs. 15860.51 Crores, growth of 28.1 per cent
Net profit after tax at Rs. 2231.83 Crores, growth of 74.1 per cent
Final dividend of 1500% or Rs. 30 per share on face value of each share of Rs. 2
EBIDTA margin for the year 17.4 per cent
EPS of Rs. 111.77, growth of 74.1 per cent
Yep, Hero Honda in India is coming up with this heroic achievement.
From their website http://www.herohonda.com/co_corporate_profile.htm :
"Hero Honda Motors Ltd. is the world's largest manufacturer of two – wheelers, based in India.
The company is a joint venture between India's Hero Group and Honda Motor Company, Japan that began in 1984.
In 2001, the company achieved the coveted position of being the largest two-wheeler manufacturing company in India and the ‘World No.1’ two-wheeler company in terms of unit volume sales in a calendar year by a single company. Hero Honda has retained that coveted position till date."
Seems like they're selling streetbikes from 100 to 150cc, the smaller engines looking like Honda Wave engines, in Tiger Boxer-looking bikes with more or less plastic. All engines are simple air-cooled two-valvers, FI is being introduced.
All in all about 14 different models of small, light, economical, reliable and cheap street bikes available, plus one scooter. Sadly no Enduro, supermoto or big scooter.
Hero Honda seems to be booming, selling appr. 1.2 Mio bikes per quarter (!), the last quarter being the highest sales volume, and there's no slowing down.
From their website http://www.herohonda.com/co_corporate_profile.htm :
"Hero Honda Motors Ltd. is the world's largest manufacturer of two – wheelers, based in India.
The company is a joint venture between India's Hero Group and Honda Motor Company, Japan that began in 1984.
In 2001, the company achieved the coveted position of being the largest two-wheeler manufacturing company in India and the ‘World No.1’ two-wheeler company in terms of unit volume sales in a calendar year by a single company. Hero Honda has retained that coveted position till date."
Seems like they're selling streetbikes from 100 to 150cc, the smaller engines looking like Honda Wave engines, in Tiger Boxer-looking bikes with more or less plastic. All engines are simple air-cooled two-valvers, FI is being introduced.
All in all about 14 different models of small, light, economical, reliable and cheap street bikes available, plus one scooter. Sadly no Enduro, supermoto or big scooter.
Hero Honda seems to be booming, selling appr. 1.2 Mio bikes per quarter (!), the last quarter being the highest sales volume, and there's no slowing down.
Hoghead, thanks for bringing up the name Lifan!
I've never heard of them but come across it lately in some forums. They semm to be building a 400cc air cooled chopper which looks 95% like the mid sized Virago, they must have bought the right to manufacture it, or who knows the story?
Read that they have a factory in Thailand plus 150 dealers nationwide - surprises me, I've heard and read and seen more about KTM, Sachs or Tiger, and how many dealers do they have?
Word is that the 400cc Virago copy would be available for 150,000 baht but it isn't clear if they are for sale here.
The original Virago was a very durable bike and sold well, there are lots of old high-mileage ones around. If the quality of the chinese version is close to the japanese version it would be interesting for that price, if you are into choppers.
Does anybody have more info on Lifan?
At least the brand name is acceptable, better than "Zongshen" or "Ryuka"!
I've never heard of them but come across it lately in some forums. They semm to be building a 400cc air cooled chopper which looks 95% like the mid sized Virago, they must have bought the right to manufacture it, or who knows the story?
Read that they have a factory in Thailand plus 150 dealers nationwide - surprises me, I've heard and read and seen more about KTM, Sachs or Tiger, and how many dealers do they have?
Word is that the 400cc Virago copy would be available for 150,000 baht but it isn't clear if they are for sale here.
The original Virago was a very durable bike and sold well, there are lots of old high-mileage ones around. If the quality of the chinese version is close to the japanese version it would be interesting for that price, if you are into choppers.
Does anybody have more info on Lifan?
At least the brand name is acceptable, better than "Zongshen" or "Ryuka"!
As I understand, Lifan is the largest motorcycle engine manufacturer in china. The Tiger and Platinum brands in Thailand appear to use them as well as the Chinese brands mentioned. I think there's been an attempt to market Lifan motorcycles (identical to the Platinum dirt bike toy) in Thailand with unknown success and I even saw a Lifan copy of the Mini Cooper car for sale in Savannakhet, Laos. The engine appears to be cobbled together with a Kawasaki-copy head and gear cluster, an older style Honda block and Suzuki-copied clutch (all older technology that's no longer patented). I had the head and camshaft modified on my Platinum to accept a second bearing in place of the older-style bushing which swells up when hot causing engine noise at high RPM. At the moment I would not recommend them but there was a time, before 1973, when the quality of Japanese equipment was considered shoddy before an upgrade of their metallurgy and, sooner or later, the Chinese will follow suit. For now, though, it's wait and see.