Honda Aims To Be India’s Number 1 In FY26, Says Its President And Director

“Our goal for this fiscal year is to catch (up with) Hero MotoCorp and capture the number one position in the Indian market.” Big ambitions from Honda as the Japanese two-wheeler maker has clearly set the target to be the leader in India in FY26. In a recent analysts’ session in Japan, Honda’s President and Director, Toshihiro Mibe, announced its desire to usurp its former partner, Hero, from the throne in the Indian two-wheeler space.

Mibe cited that Hero and Honda were very close in terms of market share in FY25, 29.5 percent to 28.3 percent respectively. And the start to this fiscal year has also been very promising for the Japanese giant, who romped ahead in the monthly sales charts for April. In contrast, Hero slipped down to number three, as even TVS managed to outsell it.

In order to realise its dream, Honda states that it will be prioritising certain products like the Activa and Shine, both of which have been extremely popular in India. Both of these products have become iconic brands of their own with healthy performance in the 100-110 cc as well as 125 cc space.

Hero on the other hand has premium ambitions for FY26. It has started the year with products like the Xoom 125R, Xtreme 250R and XPulse 210 now arriving in the market. With more products like the Xoom 160 and Karizma XMR 250 on the horizon, as well as something new on the jointly developed 440 cc platform with Harley-Davidson, Hero will be quite active in FY26. However, will this premium strategy be enough?

Given that its bread and butter business, the 100-110 cc commuters, has been severely affected for the past couple of months, Hero will have to work out some magic for the space yet again. It isn’t that the Splendor isn’t doing well. However, the HF Deluxe and Hero’s scooters have not been quite as impactful. And neither has the Vida electric scooters. Hence, it will be interesting to see how FY26 pans out considering Hero has to fight the battle on many fronts: for outright leadership, for premium gains and for penetration into the electric space.