Honda and Yamaha, Two giants of automotive industry are joining hands to manufacture scooters for their domestic market. This move comes in the backdrop of falling two-wheeler sales overall in Japan leading the two companies to put aside their differences and come together for the betterment of themselves and the industry.
Commenting on this move, Honda’s operating officer, Shinji Aoyama said, “The slowdown in the scooter market seen in the past few years has made business in the sector very difficult for both companies, so partnering will have merits”.
Of course, sharing resources and producing scooters together will allow both Honda and Yamaha to share and lessen the increase in development costs and make them better prepared for the ever-tightening emission norms.
Honda announced that it would start producing Yamaha’s 50cc scooter models at their southern plan by the end of 2018. However, both companies will continue to market their scooters separately and the partnership is restricted to Japan only. Also, the biggest two-wheeler consumer market for both manufacturers remains Asia where there’s ever-rising demand of small capacity two-wheelers (primarily scooters).
Furthermore, Honda and Yamaha will also upgrade their delivery scooters and for this as well, Honda is likely to manufacturer scooters for Yamaha.
During the 1980s, Honda and Yamaha were some of the bitterest rivals trying to push sales of their motorcycles against each other. This partnership completely disregards that rivalry and is a sign of changing trends in the domestic market.
Yamaha’s managing executive officer, Katsuaki Watanabe said, “There’s absolutely no bad feeling or ill will left over from that period”.
