Japan’s Honda Motor and Yamaha Motor on Wednesday stated they were joining with forces to construct scooters for the domestic market, burying the hatchet on a decades-old rivalry and combining production in response to a shrinking bike market.
Honda, the world’s most known bike brand by sales, stated it would begin producing Yamaha’s 50-cc engine scooter models for the regional market at its plant in southern Japan by the end of 2018, based on the production platform for Honda’s small scooter models.
The 2 companies stated that pooling resources would be a way to reduce increasing expenses to establish brand-new scooter technologies and equal ever-tightening emissions policies in the face of falling domestic scooter sales.
“The downturn in the scooter market seen in the previous couple of years has made business in the sector very tough for both companies, so partnering will have benefits,” Honda running officer Shinji Aoyama informed reporters.
Both companies have stated they would continue to market scooters independently, and that the partnership was limited to Japan. Without a doubt the biggest market for both companies is Asia ex-Japan, where a growing source for scooters from an expanding middle class has actually created their biggest battlefield.
These two companies said they would likewise jointly upgrade their particular delivery scooter models, which Honda might also produce for Yamaha, while also thinking about collaboration on electric scooter projects.
