PT Astra Honda Motor, the Indonesian motorcycle unit of Japan’s Honda Motor Co. Ltd., launched Friday a new, smaller version of Vario scooter to grab the market lead from bitter rival Yamaha.
The 110-cc engine Honda Beat, as its name, is expected to become the main weapon to beat Yamaha in the country’s growing scooter market.
Until April this year, Honda’s share in the scooter market was 26.3 percent, well below Yamaha, who grabbed over a half of the total scooter market.
With a price tag of 12 million rupiah (1,288 U.S. dollars), Honda Beat may help boost the share to at least 45 percent, Astra marketing director Johannes Loman told reporters here.
The company now has greater focus on scooter, whose sales are rapidly growing in already crowded market, he said.
Honda introduced 110-cc Vario as its first scooter in Indonesia a couple of years ago following Yamaha’s success in developing the particular market segment.
Scooter accounted for 18 percent of the country’s total motorcycle sales in 2007, increasing from 12 percent a year earlier, while moped motorcycles have dominated sales for long.
