Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), has announced its plans to set up a new manufacturing facility in Tapukara, Rajasthan. The new plant will commence production by the second half of 2011 and is scheduled to have an initial capacity of 600,000 units.

The new facility is being built in the Tapukara Industrial Area near Bhiwadi on a 240,000 square meter plot of land. Located approximately 40 kilometres away from the existing plant in Manesar and about 90 kilometres away from Delhi, the new plant is conveniently located. Moreover, the approach road from NH8 is also being widened to aid with free movement of heavy trucks and increased traffic in the area.

HMSI is investing a total of Rs. 5.0 billion in the new facility and hopes to employ approximately 3,000 associates at the initial stage. The new plant will cater to the increased demand that HMSI is witnessing for its products. The present plan is to manufacture motorcycle models at this new facility, and leave the scooter models manufacture line at the present facility.

HMSI is also looking at designing this new facility in a 'greener' manner and plans on investing in cutting edge technology as well as processes in order to roll out quality products, a point that the management stressed heavily on. Incidentally, the existing facility at Manesar has also expanded its current capacity from 1.25 million units to 1.55 million units recently, with a further expansion to 1.6 million units scheduled for later this year. Once established, the total output from HMSI's two facilities is expected to be 2.2 million units, which is in sync with the increased demand that the company is witnessing.