Hero has set 10 million volume target for FY20.This means that the sales gap that Honda has with Hero is too close. Given the momentum that the Japanese company has gained in the past many years, it seems that a month is not very far away when Honda may overtake Hero, says an auto analyst who asked not to be named.But he was quick to add that Honda will not be able to lead the market for the full year given its capacity constraint, which is only 6.4 million units per annum at its 11 assembly lines, while Hero has a huge lead in this with 9.2 million installed capacity.However he further said the gap may continue narrow as Hondas bikes sales are also vrooming, driven by the CB Shine.In March, Hero began its eighth plant (in Andhras Chittoor district) which will have an annual capacity of 1.8 million units at a cost of Rs 1,600 crore. On completion, this will take the total capacity to 11 million by December 2019.When asked are you on course to become the largest player, Honda senior vice-president for sales & marketing Yadvinder Singh Guleria told PTI "we just dont have the capacity. Even if we decide to add a new assembly line, it will take at least two years to go on-stream. So the question doesnt arise as of now.

Source: Economic Times May 06, 2018 12:39 UTC