Is Honda Navi a short-lived wonder? Sales of hybrid two-wheeler nosedive

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), the Indian subsidiary of the Japanese automaker, launched Navi hybrid two-wheeler in Auto Expo 2016. The new kind of vehicle cannot be called a scooter as well as a bike while it combines the attributes of both.

Despite it being quirky and not a looker, the Honda Navi exceeded manufacturer's expectations in the first year. The company expected sales of around 50,000 unit in the first year while the Navi attracted over 60,000 buyers. However, emerging sales and despatch data indicate that the initial enthusiasm over Navi has fizzled out.

According to the latest sales data of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Honda has dispatched not even a single unit of the Navi to its dealerships in March. Honda dealerships should have a sizeable inventory and that indicates sales are dipping after the initial excitement.

The dispatches in the month of February and January 2018 are also no different. Honda could manage to send only 620 and 1003 units, respectively. The numbers also indicate Navi is the least selling two-wheeler in Honda's table at present.

The diminishing performance seems to have prompted other manufacturers to have a second thought. DSK Benelli was supposed to bring TNT135, a mini-scooter in line with the Navi last year. The company seems to have shelved the plan as of now. Honda's mini-bike Grom was also spotted testing in India last year, but the automaker soon clarified that it had no plans to launch Grom in India.

Honda Navi

Navi is the first product to be conceived, designed, developed and validated in India by Honda's R&D. Offered in three variants — Street, Adventure and Off-road — Navi comes in five color options — red, green, white, orange and black. The hybrid two-wheeler is powered by a 109cc four-stroke SI engine that also does duty in Activa. The mill churns out 7.83bhp of power at 7,000rpm and 8.96Nm of peak torque at 5,500Nm.

Source: Bikeadvise