Honda to boost Asian imports

Honda to boost Asian imports

TOKYO (Reuters): Japan's second-biggest automaker Honda Motor Co Ltd said on Monday it planned to expand domestic sales of cheap motorcycles made at its plants in Asia to cash in on growing demand for cut-price vehicles.

"We plan to import motorcycles priced less than 100,000 yen ($854.5) from our manufacturing bases in Asia, especially India and China, and sell them in Japan," Honda President Hiroyuki Yoshino told a news conference.

"We need to improve our production structure to respond to the market demand," he said.

Details of the import plan, which is intended as an answer to Japan's expanding second-hand motorcycle market, will be decided later, he said.

The announcement follows the company's release in Japan of a new series of scooters powered by 4-cycle 50cc engines, targeted mainly at the youth market. Honda said it would aim for domestic sales of 60,000 units for the scooters, which will range in price from 159,000 yen to 179,000 yen.