“A STUDY ON BRAND AWARNESS OF CBR 250R IN JSP HONDA Pvt.Ltd.” Submitted by JOHN RENISH ROY-NG92441 JUBIN JOSE -NG92442 PRASATH .P-NG92453 Under the Guidance of Mr. M. MANOJ KUMAR, M.BA, M.PHIL (HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT) Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Award of the degree in BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION MAR GREGORIOS ARTS AND SCIENCE COLLEGE Chennai - 600037
Transcript
“A STUDY ON BRAND AWARNESS OF CBR 250R IN JSP HONDA
Pvt.Ltd.”
Submitted by
JOHN RENISH ROY-NG92441JUBIN JOSE -NG92442PRASATH .P-NG92453
Under the Guidance of Mr. M. MANOJ KUMAR, M.BA, M.PHIL (HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT) Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Award of the degree in BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS
DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
MAR GREGORIOS ARTS AND SCIENCE COLLEGE
Chennai - 600037
BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
This is to Certify that the Group project report titled, “AIDCA SURVEY ON CBR
250R” is done by JOHN RENISH ROY-NG92441,JUBIN JOSE-
NG92442,PRASATH.P-NG92453, III BBA, Mar Gregorios Arts and Science College,
Mogappair, Chennai, in the year 201-2012 for the completion of Bachelor’s Degree in
Business Administration.
Project Guide
Head of the Department Principal
Date: ________
VIVA VOCE EXAMINATION
This viva voce examination of this project titled “AIDCA SURVEY ON CBR 250R” in “JSP HONDA PVT. LTD”, CHENNAI, Submitted by JOHN RENISH ROY – NG92441, JUBIN JOSE- NG92442, PRASATH.P-NG92453 University of
Madras held on _______
Internal Examiner External Examiner
DECLARATION
I’m, PRASTH.P-NG92453 of III B.B.A, Student of Mar Gregorios Arts and
Science College, Chennai, hereby declare that the group project work done titled
“AIDCA SURVEY ON CBR 250R” in “JSP HONDA PVT.LTD”, Chennai,
Submitted to the University of Madras is an Original work not from any other
award of degree, diploma, fellowship or other similarities.
Date: _______ (PRASATH.P)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all we would like to thank the University of Madras for including a special
practical subject into this course.
We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the Management of Mar Gregorios
Arts and Science College for their continuous support. We would like to thank our
beloved Principle Dr.(Mr.) P.Prakasam and our Secretary Father Fr. Sabu Vargheese who
has been a source of Inspiration
It takes immense pleasure for me in thanking Prof. Mr. M. Manoj Kumar M.B.A,
M.PHIL, Class mentor and Mr Ravi Tej, M.BA, M.PHIL, Head of the Department,
Business Administration for extending his support and guidance throughout the
completion for my project.
We are very thankful for all the faculties who have rendered constant support whenever
needed to complete this project work.
We would also like to thank the sales Manager of JSP HONDA Mr. VENKAT for
providing us valuable information about the company in preparation of this project
report.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Some of the major players that dominate the global Motorcycle market are Honda,
Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, and Kinetic. Whereas the Indian market shows dominance of
players like Hero Honda, Honda, Bajaj Auto Ltd, TVS motors and Yamaha. The focus of
the study is BRAND AWARNESS OF CBR 250R OF HONDA, INDIA Honda has been
the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest
manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than
14 million internal combustion engines each year. Honda surpassed Nissan 2001 to
become the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer. As of August 2008, Honda
surpassed Chrysler as the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in the United States.
Honda is the sixth largest automobile manufacturer in the world.
Honda was the first Japanese automobile manufacturer to release a dedicated luxury
brand, Acura, in 1986. Aside from their core automobile and motorcycle businesses,
Honda also manufactures garden equipment, marine engines, personal watercraft and
power generators, amongst others. Since 1986, Honda has been involved with artificial
intelligence/robotics research and released their ASIMO robot in 2000. They have also
ventured into aerospace with the establishment of GE Honda Aero Engines in 2004 and
the Honda HA-420 Honda Jet, scheduled to be released in 2012. Honda spends about 5%
of its revenues into R&D.
TITLE PAGE NO
CHAPTER-1: INTRODUCTION 7
1.1 Research Background 17
1.2 Objective of the study 17
1.3 Need and importance of the study 17
1.4 Scope of the study 18
1.5 Industrial profile 19
1.6 Company profile 27
1.7 CORE COMPANY profile 51
CHAPTER-2: LITERATURE SURVEY 57
2.1 Literature Review 57
CHAPTER-3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 69
3.1 Research Design 73
3.2 Area of the study 73
3.3 Research Instrument 74
3.4 Questionnaire Design 74
3.5 Pilot Survey 74
3.6 Sample Design 75
3.7 Data collection tool 75
3.8 Statistical tools and techniques 75
3.9 Limitation of the study 75
CHAPTER-4: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 77
4.1 Percentage Analysis 77
CHAPTER-5: SUMMARY 93
5.1 Findings 94
5.2 Suggestions 95
5.3 Conclusion 96
APPENDIX 99
BIBLIOGRAPHY 102
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTTable No Title Page No
4.1.1 Age group you belong to 78
4.1.2 Salary 79
4.1.3 Currently using any two wheelers 80
4.1.4 Have you heard about CBR 250R 81
4.1.5 What do you know about CBR 250R 82
4.1.6 From where did you get idea about CBR 250R 83
4.1.7 Have you thought of buying CBR 250R 84
4.1.8 How do you rate the satisfaction level of CBR 250R 85
4.1.9 Are you satisfied with the price of CBR 250R 86
4.1.10 Are you satisfied with the performance of CBR 250R 87
4.1.11 Is CBR 250R is safer than other brand 88
4.1.12 What motivates you to think of buying CBR 250R 89
4.1.13 Does the brand product CBR 250R meet your expectation
90
4.1.14 Have you ever received a free gift or discount from the purchase of CBR 250R
91
4.1.15 Is CBR 250R really looks stunning 92
CHAPTER I
INTRODUTION
SOCIETY OF INDIAN AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURERS
Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (ISO 9001-2008 Certified Organisation) is
apex body representing 44 leading vehicle and vehicle engine manufacturers. It is the face of
the Indian automobile industry. With its regular and continuous interaction with international
bodies and organizations SIAM facilitates up gradation of technical capabilities of the Indian
Industry to match the best practice worldwide. Indian Automobile Industry is showing
accelerating pace of growth rate across all segments.
According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, total sales for all categories
stood at 12,08,851 units as against 9,29,917 units for the corresponding period a year-ago, a
growth of 30%
However, SIAM director general cautioned that sales may be affected if the monsoon,
which the Met department has predicted to be good this year, becomes weak. Rising inflation
is another concern.” If the government takes steps to control the money supply, then at some
point of time interest rates will be under pressure. We have to track it very carefully," Mr
Mathur, Director General SIAM, said.
Sales of two-wheelers in May also jumped by 28.66% over that of May 2009.Motorcycle
sales in India during May went up by 25.80% to 7,25,311 units from5,76,537 units in the
year-ago period. The country's largest motorcycle maker Hero Honda registered a growth of
11.74% in its sales at 4,01,320 units in May 2010.Sales in rival Bajaj Auto also shot up by
68.73% to 1,91,726 units, while Chennai-based TVS Motor Company posted a 21.21%
growth at 52,319 units in May. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) saw its bike sales
jump by 52.24% to 55,110 units. In the scooter segment, the total sales in May jumped by
45.45% to 1,57,509 units as against 1,08,291 units sold in the corresponding month last year,
SIAM said. HMSI's scooter sales were up by 28.03% at 76,980 units, while TVS Motor's
scooter sales grew by 40.19% in May to 30,567 units. Hero Honda's scooter sales jumped
23,738units, an increase by 61.21% from last year
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is a marketing concept that enables marketers to quantify
levels and trends in consumer knowledge and awareness of a brand's existence. At the
aggregate (brand) level, it refers to the proportion of consumers who know of
the brand.
Brand awareness studies are most useful when the results are set against a clear
benchmark such as data from prior periods, different markets, or competitors. In a
survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 61 percent responded that they
found the "brand awareness" metric very useful.
"Awareness, attitudes, and usage (AAU) metrics relate closely to what has been called
the Hierarchy of Effects, an assumption that customers progress through sequential stages
from lack of awareness, through initial purchase of a product, to brand loyalty." In total, these
AAU metrics allow companies to track trends in customer knowledge and attitudes.
Creation of brand awareness is the primary goal of advertising at the beginning of any
product's life cycle, and has influence on buying behavior.
Brand Positioning
In marketing, Brand positioning has come to mean the process by which marketers try
to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or
organization.
Effective Brand Positioning is contingent upon identifying and communicating a
brand's uniqueness, differentiation and verifiable value. It is important to note that
"me too" brand positioning contradicts the notion of differentiation and should be
avoided at all costs. This type of copycat brand positioning only works if the business
offers its solutions at a significant discount over the other competitor(s).
Generally, the brand positioning process involves:
Identifying the business's direct competition (could include players that offer your
product/service amongst a larger portfolio of solutions)
Understanding how each competitor is positioning their business today (e.g. claiming to be
the fastest, cheapest, largest, the #1 provider, etc.)
Documenting the provider's own positioning as it exists today (may not exist if startup
business)
Comparing the company's positioning to its competitors' to identify viable areas for
differentiation
Developing a distinctive, differentiating and value-based positioning concept
Creating a positioning statement with key messages and customer value propositions to be
used for communications development across the variety of target audience touch points
153 kg (337 lb) (non-ABS) (dry)161 kg (355 lb) (non-ABS), 165 kg (364 lb) (ABS) (claimed)166 kg (366 lb) (ABS) (wet)
Fuel capacity 13 l (2.9 imp gal; 3.4 US gal)
Fuel consumption
4.1 L/100 km (69 mpg-imp; 57 mpg-US)4.16 L/100 km (67.9 mpg-imp; 56.5 mpg-US)
Turning radius 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)
The CBR250R is a single cylinder sport bike made by Honda in Thailand and India since 2011. It was primarily intended for the Thai and Indian
The CBR250R is a single cylinder sport bike made by Honda in Thailand and India since 2011. It was primarily intended for the Thai and Indian markets, but is sold worldwide, including in developed countries in Europe, North America and elsewhere. In developing countries where typical motorcycles are 125–150 cc (7.6–9.2 cu in) displacement, the larger 249.5 cc (15.23 cu in) CBR250R is at the higher end of the sport bike range, looking similar to much more powerful sporting machines with its full fairing in Honda's new layered style that was introduced on the 2008 CBR1000RR Fireblade and 2010 VFR1200F In wealthier industrialized countries, the CBR250R enters at the opposite end of the market, as a budget priced beginner or utility bike, practical and fuel efficient, but with limited sporting pretensions.
In the US, the new CBR250R is the first major competition the Kawasaki Ninja 250R has faced since the early 1990s. The CBR250R has optional mechanical combined anti-lock brakes, which is unusual at its price.
Design
The CBR250R closely follows the style of the VFR1200F, notable for its Y-shaped headlight and prominent middle cowl, which creates a layered look. This new direction in Honda design debuted at Intermot in 2008 with the V4 Concept Model, and the 2008 CBR1000RR Fireblade.
Motorcycle Consumer News design columnist Glynn Kerr observed that new direction in bike design fits the pattern of motorcycle trends imitating, but lagging behind, car styling, in that motorcycles are shifting away from sharp, "lithe", dart-like shapes of the 2010s toward a heavier, "chunky" style with a higher, blunter nose, and, in cars, a "high waisted" middle with short windows and thicker pillars. Kerr cites the Chrysler 300 as the best example, as well as smaller cars like the Audi A3 and Suzuki Swift, commenting that, "aggression now comes from appearing strong and assertive, rather than light and dart-like... the arrow has been replaced by the hammer."
In motorcycles this translates into a heavy front, reverse rake angle headlight, and the use of little or no color on the rear half of the bike to spotlight the front one-fourth of the bike. In this aspect, Kerr also sees influence from the 1994 Morbidelli V8, the 1991 Yamaha TDM850, and Honda's DN-01 of 2005. On the 2008 CBR1000RR, Kerr thought the dominant vertical line produced an awkward, top heavy look that played against traditional race replica styling of body lines sloping downwards towards the front. The 2010 VFR1200F was visually more successful because the new style better suited the greater proportions of a touring motorcycle, and in spite of Honda's third iteration of the style being a much smaller bike, nonetheless Kerr said, "the latest CBR250R carries the look even better than its big brother." The Ottawa Citizen's review by David Booth said the CBR250R looked better than the VFR1200F as well, commenting that, "Where the various bulges of the big VFR are a little too Jessica Rabbit-like over-the-top, the little CBR250R styling is far more subtle and really looks the classier of the two."
Critical reception
Reviews of the CBR250R generally rate its performance in comparison to its the main competitor, which in the US and Canada is the Kawasaki Ninja 250R. The Hyosung GT250, rebadged as the ATK GT250 for 2011, is also a potential US competitor, although it fares poorly in comparison. In India, the Ninja 250R and Hero Honda Karizma R are the leading competition. Though lower in peak power and with a slower top speed than the Ninja 250, the CBR was lauded for having more torque available at lower engine speeds, meaning that it was easier to accelerate from low
speed and pulling away required less noise and drama, since the Ninja had to be revved to 9,000 rpm and above to make use of its greater power. This made the CBR250R more pleasant and forgiving to ride than the sportier, but more challenging, Ninja. Complaints from The Economic Times of Mumbai included a tendency to stand up if the rider makes a sloppy mid-corner correction, and brakes and suspension not up to the standards of a track bike. The Indian reviewer also perceived the 161 kg (350 lb) wet weight as "not so light", while American journalists considered it a featherweight, "incredibly agile, flickable almost too light," at 16.5 lb (7.5 kg) lighter than the Ninja 250R. The Ninja 250R's brakes had a better, more linear feel with stronger initial bite and could stop from 60 to 0 mph (97 to 0 km/h) in 121.5 ft (37.0 m), while the CBR250R, with a stopping distance of 123.4 ft (37.6 m), was lauded for its combined anti-lock brake option, a boon to beginners in spite of the slightly shorter braking distance achievable on the Ninja 250R by a skilled sport rider. Kevin Ash, at 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), found the dimensions comfortable for someone of his height, while David Booth cautioned it could be cramped for taller riders.
In one head to head comparison, MotorcycleUSA judged the Ninja 250R to be the better bike due to its superior speed and handling. The testers at Motorcycle Consumer News found the CBR250R to be the better choice, given the needs of its presumed prospective buyers in the US, beginners and those looking for a practical motorcycle for long commutes, though "if sheer performance is all you're after" without regard for fuel efficiency, then the Ninja 250R might be preferable.
Honda Motor Company, Ltd. (本田技研工業株式会社 Honda Giken Kōgyō KK?, IPA: [hon da]ꜜ / ̍ h ɒ n d ə / ) (TYO: 7267) is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year. Honda surpassed Nissan in 2001 to become the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer. As of August 2008, Honda surpassed Chrysler as the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in the United States. Honda is the sixth largest automobile manufacturer in the world.
Honda was the first Japanese automobile manufacturer to release a dedicated luxury brand, Acura, in 1986. Aside from their core automobile and motorcycle businesses, Honda also manufactures garden equipment, marine engines, personal watercraft and power generators, amongst others. Since 1986, Honda has been involved with artificial intelligence/robotics research and released their ASIMO robot in 2000. They have also ventured into aerospace with the establishment of GE Honda Aero Engines in 2004 and the Honda HA-420 HondaJet, scheduled to be released in 2012. Honda spends about 5% of its revenues into R&D
HistoryThis section requires expansion.
From a young age, Honda's founder, Soichiro Honda (本田 宗一郎, Honda Sōichirō) (November 17, 1906 – August 5, 1991) had an interest in automobiles. He worked as a mechanic at the Art Shokai garage, where he tuned cars and entered them in races. In 1937, with financing from an acquaintance, Kato Shichirō, Honda founded Tōkai Seiki (Eastern Sea Precision Machine Company) to make piston rings working out, of the Art Shokai garage.[10] After initial failures, Tōkai Seiki won a contract to supply piston rings to Toyota, but lost the contract due to the poor quality of their products. After attending engineering school, without graduating, and visiting factories around Japan to better understand Toyota's quality control processes, Honda was able, by 1941, to mass produce piston rings acceptable to Toyota, using an automated process that could employ even unskilled wartime laborers.
Tōkai Seiki was placed under control of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (called the Ministry of Munitions after 1943) at the start of the World War II, and Soichiro Honda was demoted from president to senior managing director after Toyota took a 40% stake in the company.[10] Honda also aided the war effort by assisting other companies in automating the production of military aircraft propellers. The relationships Honda cultivated with personnel at Toyota, Nakajima Aircraft Company and the Imperial Japanese Navy would be instrumental in the postwar period. A US B-29 bomber attack destroyed Tōkai Seiki's Yamashita plant in 1944, and the Itawa plant collapsed in the 1945 Mikawa earthquake, and Soichiro Honda sold the salvageable remains the company to Toyota after the war for ¥ 450,000, and used the proceeds to found the Honda Technical Research Institute in October 1946. With a staff of 12 men working in a 172 square foot shack, they built and sold improvised motorized bicycles, using a supply of 500 two-stroke 50 cc Tohatsu war surplus radio generator engines. When the engines ran out, Honda began building their own copy of the Tohatsu engine, and supplying these to customers to attach their bicycles. This was the Honda Model A, nicknamed the Bata Bata for the sound the engine made. The first complete motorcycle, both frame and engine, and made by Honda was the 1949 Model D, the first Honda to go by the name Dream. Honda Motor Company grew in a short time to become the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles by 1964.
The first production automobile from Honda was the T360 mini pick-up truck, which went on sale in August 1963 Powered by a small 356 cc straight-4 gasoline engine, it was classified under the cheaper Kei car tax bracket. The first production car from Honda was the S500 sports car, which followed the T360 into production in October 1963. Its chain driven rear wheels point to Honda's motorcycle origins.
Corporate profile and divisions
Honda headquarters building in Minato, Tokyo
Honda is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Their shares trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, as well as exchanges in Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kyoto, Fukuoka, London, Paris and Switzerland.
The company has assembly plants around the globe. These plants are located in China, the United States, Pakistan, Canada, England, Japan, Belgium, Brazil, New Zealand, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Turkey, Taiwan and Perú. As of July 2010, 89 percent of Honda and Acura vehicles sold in the United States were built in North American plants, up from 82.2 percent a year earlier. This shields profits from the yen’s advance to a 15-year high against the dollar.
Honda's Net Sales and Other Operating Revenue by Geographical Regions in 2007[15]
Geographic Region Total revenue (in millions of ¥)
Geographic Region Total revenue (in millions of ¥)
Others 905,163
American Honda Motor Company is based in Torrance, California. Honda Canada Inc. is headquartered in Markham, Ontario, their manufacturing division, Honda of Canada Manufacturing, is based in Alliston, Ontario. Honda has also created joint ventures around the world, such as Honda Siel Cars and Hero Honda Motorcycles in India Guangzhou Honda and Dongfeng Honda in China, Boon Siew Honda in Malaysia and Honda Atlas in Pakistan.
Current market position
With high fuel prices and a weak U.S. economy in June 2008, Honda reported a 1% sales increase while its rivals, including the Detroit Big Three and Toyota, have reported double-digit losses. Honda's sales were up almost 20 percent from the same month last year. The Civic and the Accord were in the top five list of sales. Analysts have attributed this to two main factors. First, Honda's product lineup consists of mostly small to mid-size, highly fuel-efficient vehicles. Secondly, over the last ten years, Honda has designed its factories to be flexible, in that they can be easily retooled to produce any Honda model that may be in-demand at the moment.
Nonetheless, Honda, Nissan, and Toyota, were still not immune to the global financial crisis of 2008, as these companies reduced their profitability forecasts. The economic crisis has been spreading to other important players in the vehicle related industries as well.[20][21] In November 2009 the Nihon Keizai Shinbun reported that Honda Motor exports have fallen 64.1%.
At the 2008 Beijing Auto Show, Honda presented the Li Nian ("concept" or "idea") 5-door hatchback and announced that they were looking to develop an entry-level brand exclusively for the Chinese market similar to Toyota's Scion brand in the USA. The brand would be developed by a 50–50 joint-venture established in 2007 with Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group.
Following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 Honda announced plans to halve production at its UK plants.[citation needed] The decision was made to put staff at the Swindon plant on a 2 day week until the end of May as the manufacturer struggled to source supplies from Japan. It's thought around 22,500 cars were produced during this period.
For a list of vehicles, see List of Honda vehicles.
2008 Honda Accord (USA spec)
Eighth Generation Honda Civic (Asian Version)
Honda's global lineup consists of the Fit, Civic, Accord, Insight, CR-V, and two versions of the Odyssey, one for North America, and a smaller vehicle sold internationally. An early proponent of developing vehicles to cater to different needs and markets worldwide, Honda's lineup varies by country and may feature vehicles exclusive to that region. A few examples are the latest Acura TL luxury sedan and the Ridgeline, Honda's first light-duty uni-body pickup truck. Both were designed and engineered primarily in North America and are exclusively produced and sold there. Other examples of exclusive models to international markets include the Honda Civic five-door sedan sold in Europe that has almost no visual similarities to the North American or Asian versions.
Honda's automotive manufacturing ambitions can be traced back to 1963, with the Honda T360, a kei car truck built for the Japanese market. This was followed by the two-door roadster, the Honda S500 also introduced in 1963. In 1965, Honda built a two-door commercial delivery van, called the Honda L700. Honda's first four-door sedan was not the Accord, but the air-cooled, four-cylinder, gasoline-powered Honda 1300 in 1969. The Civic was a hatchback that gained wide popularity internationally, but it wasn't the first two-door hatchback built. That was the Honda N360, another Kei car that was adapted for international sale as the N600. The Civic, which appeared in 1972 and replaced the N600 also had a smaller sibling that replaced the air-cooled N360, called the Honda Life that was water-cooled.
The Honda Life represented Honda's efforts in competing in the kei car segment, offering sedan, delivery van and small pick-up platforms on a shared chassis. The Life StepVan had a novel approach that, while not initially a commercial success, appears to be an influence in vehicles with the front passengers sitting behind the engine, a large cargo area with a flat roof and a liftgate installed in back, and utilizing a transversely installed engine with a front-wheel-drive powertrain.
As Honda entered into automobile manufacturing after World War II, where Japanese manufacturers such as Toyota and Nissan had heritage before the war, it appears that Honda instilled a sense of doing things a little differently than its Japanese competitors. Its mainstay products, like the Accord and Civic, have always employed front-wheel-drive powertrain implementation, which is currently a long held Honda tradition. Honda also installed new technologies into their products, first as optional equipment, then later standard, like anti lock brakes, speed sensitive power steering, and multi-port fuel injection in the early 1980s. This desire to be the first to try new approaches is evident with the creation of the first Japanese luxury chain Acura, and was also evident with the all aluminum, mid-engined sports car, the Honda NSX, which also introduced variable valve timing technology, Honda calls VTEC.
The Civic is a line of compact cars developed and manufactured by Honda. In North America, the Civic is the second-longest continuously running nameplate from a Japanese manufacturer; only its perennial rival, the Toyota Corolla, introduced in 1968, has been in production longer.[26] The Civic, along with the Accord and Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded. Having gone through several generational changes, the Civic has become larger and more upmarket, and it currently slots between the Fit and Accord.
Honda increased global production in September 2008 to meet demand for small cars in the U.S. and emerging markets. The company is shuffling U.S. production to keep factories busy and boost car output, while building fewer minivans and sport utility vehicles as light truck sales fall
Honda produces Civic hybrid, a hybrid electric vehicle that competes with the Toyota Prius, and also produces the Insight and CR-Z.
Its first entrance into the pickup segment, the light duty Ridgeline, won Truck of the Year from Motor Trend magazine in 2006. Also in 2006, the redesigned Civic won Car of the Year from the magazine, giving Honda a rare double win of Motor Trend honors.
It is reported that Honda plans to increase hybrid sales in Japan to more than 20% of its total sales in fiscal year 2011, from 14.8% in previous year.
Five of United States Environmental Protection Agency's top ten most fuel-efficient cars from 1984 to 2010 comes from Honda, more than any other automakers. The five models are: 2000–2006 Honda Insight (53 mpg-US/4.4 L/100 km; 64 mpg-imp combined), 1986–1987 Honda Civic Coupe HF (46 mpg-US/5.1 L/100 km; 55 mpg-imp combined), 1994–1995 Honda Civic hatchback VX (43 mpg-US/5.5 L/100 km; 52 mpg-imp mpg combined), 2006– Honda Civic Hybrid (42 mpg-US/5.6 L/100 km; 50 mpg-imp combined), and 2010– Honda Insight (41 mpg-US/5.7 L/100 km; 49 mpg-imp combined). The ACEEE has also rated the Civic GX as the greenest car in America for seven consecutive years.
Motorcycles
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2010)
For a list of motorcycle products, see List of Honda motorcycles.
Honda is the largest motorcycle manufacturer in Japan and has been since it started production in 1955. At its peak in 1982, Honda manufactured almost 3 million motorcycles annually. By 2006 this figure had reduced to around 550,000 but was still higher than its three domestic competitors.
During the 1960s, when it was a small manufacturer, Honda broke out of the Japanese motorcycle market and began exporting to the U.S. Taking Honda’s story as an archetype of the smaller manufacturer entering a new market already occupied by highly dominant competitors, the story of their market entry, and their subsequent huge success in the U.S. and around the world, has been the subject of some academic controversy. Competing explanations have been advanced to explain Honda’s strategy and the reasons for their success.
The first of these explanations was put forward when, in 1975, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was commissioned by the UK government to write a report explaining why and how the British motorcycle industry had been out-competed by its Japanese competitors. The report concluded that the Japanese firms, including Honda, had sought a very high scale of production (they had made a large number of motorbikes) in order to benefit from economies of scale and learning curve effects. It blamed the decline of the British motorcycle industry on the failure of British managers to invest enough in their businesses to profit from economies of scale and scope.
The second explanation was offered in 1984 by Richard Pascale, who had interviewed the Honda executives responsible for the firm’s entry into the U.S. market. As opposed to the tightly focused strategy of low cost and high scale that BCG accredited to Honda, Pascale found that their entry into the U.S. market was a story of “miscalculation, serendipity, and organizational learning” – in other words, Honda’s success was due to the adaptability and hard work of its staff, rather than any long term strategy. For example, Honda’s initial plan on entering the U.S. was to compete in large motorcycles, around 300 cc. It was only when the team found that the scooters they were using to get themselves around their U.S. base of San Francisco attracted positive interest from consumers that they came up with the idea of selling the Super Cub.
The most recent school of thought on Honda’s strategy was put forward by Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad in 1989. Creating the concept of core competencies with Honda as an example, they argued that Honda’s success was due to its focus on leadership in the technology of internal combustion engines. For example, the high power-to-weight ratio engines Honda produced for its racing bikes provided technology and expertise which was transferable into mopeds. Honda's entry into the U.S. motorcycle market during the 1960s is used as a case study for teaching introductory strategy at business schools worldwide.
Power equipment
Production started in 1953 with H-type engine (prior to motorcycle).Honda power equipment reached record sales in 2007 with 6,4 million units. By 2010 (Fiscal year ended 31 March) this figure had decreased to 4,7 million units. Cumulative production of power products has exceeded 85 million units (as of September 2008).
Honda engines powered the entire 33-car starting field of the 2010 Indianapolis 500[36] and for the fifth consecutive race, there were no engine-related retirements during the running of the Memorial Day Classic.
Honda, despite being known as an engine company, has never built a V8 for passenger vehicles. In the late 1990s, the company resisted considerable pressure from its American dealers for a V8 engine (which would have seen use in top-of-the-line Honda SUVs and Acuras), with American Honda reportedly sending one dealer a shipment of V8 beverages to silence them. Honda considered starting V8 production in the mid-2000s for larger Acura sedans, a new version of the high end NSX sports car (which previously used DOHC V6 engines with VTEC to achieve its high power output) and possible future ventures into the American full-size truck and SUV segment for both the Acura and Honda brands, but this was cancelled in late 2008, with Honda citing environmental and worldwide economic conditions as reasons for the termination of this project.
Robots
ASIMO at Expo 2005
ASIMO is the part of Honda's Research & Development robotics program. It is the eleventh in a line of successive builds starting in 1986 with Honda E0 moving through the ensuing Honda E series and the Honda P series. Weighing 54 kilograms and standing 130 centimeters tall, ASIMO resembles a small astronaut wearing a backpack, and can walk on two feet in a manner resembling human locomotion, at up to 6 km/h (3.7 mph). ASIMO is the world's only humanoid robot able to ascend and descend stairs independently. However, human motions such as climbing stairs are difficult to mimic with a machine, which ASIMO has demonstrated by taking two plunges off a staircase.
Honda's robot ASIMO (see below) as an R&D project brings together expertise to create a robot that walks, dances and navigates steps. 2010 marks the year Honda has developed a machine capable of reading a user's brainwaves to move ASIMO. The system uses a helmet covered with electroencephalography and near-infrared spectroscopy sensors that monitor electrical brainwaves and cerebral blood flow—signals that alter slightly during the human thought process. The user thinks of one of a limited number of gestures it wants from the robot, which has been fitted with a Brain Machine Interface.
Honda has also pioneered new technology in its HA-420 HondaJet, manufactured by its subsidiary Honda Aircraft Company, which allows new levels of reduced drag, increased aerodynamics and fuel efficiency thus reducing operating costs.
Solar cells
Honda's solar cell subsidiary company Honda Soltec (Headquarters: Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto; President and CEO: Akio Kazusa) started sales throughout Japan of thin-film solar cells for public and industrial use on 24 October 2008, after selling solar cells for residential use since October 2007.[42]
Mountain bikes
See also: Honda RN-01 G-cross
Honda has also built a Downhill racing bicycle, known as the Honda RN-01. Honda has taken on several people to pilot the bike, among them Greg Minnaar. The team is known as Team G Cross Honda. The key feature of this bike is the gearbox, which replaces the standard Derailleur found on most bikes.
Motorsports
Honda has been active in motorsports, like Motorcycle Grand Prix, Superbike racing and others.
Automobile
See also: Honda Racing F1
Rubens Barrichello driving for Honda
Honda entered Formula One as a constructor for the first time in the 1964 season at the German Grand Prix with Ronnie Bucknum at the wheel. 1965 saw the addition of Richie Ginther to the team, who scored Honda's first point at the Belgian Grand Prix,
and Honda's first win at the Mexican Grand Prix. 1967 saw their next win at the Italian Grand Prix with John Surtees as their driver. In 1968, Jo Schlesser was killed in a Honda RA302 at the French Grand Prix. This racing tragedy, coupled with their commercial difficulties selling automobiles in the United States, prompted Honda to withdraw from all international motorsport that year.
After a learning year in 1965, Honda-powered Brabhams dominated the 1966 French Formula Two championship in the hands of Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme. As there was no European Championship that season, this was the top F2 championship that year. In the early 1980s Honda returned to F2, supplying engines to Ron Tauranac's Ralt team. Tauranac had designed the Brabham cars for their earlier involvement. They were again extremely successful. In a related exercise, John Judd's Engine Developments company produced a turbo "Brabham-Honda" engine for use in IndyCar racing. It won only one race, in 1988 for Bobby Rahal at Pocono.
Honda returned to Formula One in 1983, initially with another Formula Two partner, the Spirit team, before switching abruptly to Williams in 1984. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Honda powered cars won six consecutive Formula One Constructors Championships. WilliamsF1 won the crown in 1986 and 1987. Honda switched allegiance again in 1988. New partners Team McLaren won the title in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991. Honda withdrew from Formula One at the end of 1992, although the related Mugen-Honda company maintained a presence up to the end of 1999, winning four races with Ligier and Jordan Grand Prix.
Honda debuted in the CART IndyCar World Series as a works supplier in 1994. The engines were far from competitive at first, but after development, the company powered six consecutive drivers championships. In 2003, Honda transferred its effort to the rival IRL IndyCar Series. In 2004, Honda-powered cars overwhelmingly dominated the IndyCar Series, winning 14 of 16 IndyCar races, including the Indianapolis 500, and claimed the IndyCar Series Manufacturers' Championship, Drivers' Championship and Rookie of the Year titles. In 2006, Honda became the sole engine supplier for the IndyCar Series, including the Indianapolis 500. In the 2006 Indianapolis 500, for the first time in Indianapolis 500 history, the race was run without a single engine problem
During 1998, Honda considered returning to Formula One with their own team. The project was aborted after the death of its technical director, Harvey Postlethwaite. Honda instead came back as an official engine supplier to British American Racing (BAR) and Jordan Grand Prix. Honda bought a stake in the BAR team in 2004 before buying the team outright at the end of 2005, becoming a constructor for the first time since the 1960s. Honda won the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix with driver Jenson Button.
It was announced on 5 December 2008, that Honda would be exiting Formula One with immediate effect due to the 2008 global economic crisis. The team was sold to
former team principal Ross Brawn, renamed Brawn GP and subsequently Mercedes GP
Honda became an official works team in the British Touring Car Championship in 2010.
Motorcycles
Main article: Honda Racing Corporation
Honda RC212V raced by Dani Pedrosa
Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) was formed in 1982. The company combines participation in motorcycle races throughout the world with the development of high potential racing machines. Its racing activities are an important source for the creation of leading edge technologies used in the development of Honda motorcycles. HRC also contributes to the advancement of motorcycle sports through a range of activities that include sales of production racing motorcycles, support for satellite teams, and rider education programs.
Soichiro Honda, being a race driver himself, could not stay out of international motorsport. In 1959, Honda entered five motorcycles into the Isle of Man TT race, the most prestigious motorcycle race in the world. While always having powerful engines, it took until 1961 for Honda to tune their chassis well enough to allow Mike Hailwood to claim their first Grand Prix victories in the 125 and 250 cc classes. Hailwood would later pick up their first Senior TT wins in 1966 and 1967. Honda's race bikes were known for their "sleek & stylish design" and exotic engine configurations, such as the 5-cylinder, 22,000 rpm, 125 cc bike and their 6-cylinder 250 cc and 297 cc bikes.
In 1979, Honda returned to Grand Prix motorcycle racing with the monocoque-framed, four-stroke NR500. The FIM rules limited engines to four cylinders, so the NR500 featured non-circular, 'race-track', cylinders, each with 8 valves and two connecting rods, in order to provide sufficient valve area to compete with the dominant two-stroke racers. Unfortunately, it seemed Honda tried to accomplish too
much at one time and the experiment failed. For the 1982 season, Honda debuted their first two-stroke race bike, the NS500 and in 1983, Honda won their first 500 cc Grand Prix World Championship with Freddie Spencer. Since then, Honda has become a dominant marque in motorcycle Grand Prix racing, winning a plethora of top level titles with riders such as Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi.
In the Motocross World Championship, Honda has claimed six world championships. In the World Enduro Championship, Honda has captured eight titles, most recently with Stefan Merriman 2003 and with Mika Ahola from 2007 to 2010. In observed trials, Honda has claimed three world championships with Belgian rider Eddy Lejeune
Electric and alternative fuel vehicles
2009 Honda Civic GX hooked up to Phill refueling system
Top: Brazilian flexible-fuel Honda Civic. Below: U.S. Honda Civic Hybrid
2010 Honda Insight hybrid electric vehicle (Second generation).
Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell vehicle Compressed natural gas
The Honda Civic GX is the only purpose-built natural gas vehicle (NGV) commercially available in some parts of the U.S. The Honda Civic GX first appeared in 1998 as a factory-modified Civic LX that had been designed to run exclusively on compressed natural gas. The car looks and drives just like a contemporary Honda Civic LX, but does not run on gasoline. In 2001, the Civic GX was rated the cleanest-burning internal combustion engine in the world by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
First leased to the City of Los Angeles, in 2005, Honda started offering the GX directly to the public through factory trained dealers certified to service the GX. Before that, only fleets were eligible to purchase a new Civic GX. In 2006, the Civic GX was released in New York, making it the second state where the consumer is able to buy the car. Home refueling is available for the GX with the addition of the Phill Home Refueling Appliance
Flexible-fuel
Honda's Brazilian subsidiary launched flexible-fuel versions for the Honda Civic and Honda Fit in late 2006. As others Brazilian flex-fuel vehicles, these models run on any blend of hydrous ethanol (E100) and E20-E25 gasoline Initially, and in order to test the market preferences, the carmaker decided to produce a limited share of the vehicles with flex-fuel engines, 33 percent of the Civic production and 28 percent of the Fit models. Also, the sale price for the flex-fuel version was higher than the
respective gasoline versions, around US$1,000 premium for the Civic, and US$650 for the Fit, despite the fact that all other flex-fuel vehicles sold in Brazil had the same tag price as their gasoline versions. In July 2009, Honda launched in the Brazilian market its third flexible-fuel car, the Honda City
During the last two months of 2006, both flex-fuel models sold 2,427 cars against 8,546 gasoline-powered automobiles, jumping to 41,990 flex-fuel cars in 2007, and reaching 93,361 in 2008. Due to the success of the flex versions, by early 2009 a hundred percent of Honda's automobile production for the Brazilian market is now flexible-fuel, and only a small percentage of gasoline version is produced in Brazil for exports.
In March 2009, Honda launched in the Brazilian market the first flex-fuel motorcycle in the world. Produced by its Brazilian subsidiary Moto Honda da Amazônia, the CG 150 Titan Mix is sold for around US$2,700.
Hybrid electric
In late 1999, Honda launched the first commercial hybrid electric car sold in the U.S. market, the Honda Insight, just one month before the introduction of the Toyota Prius, and initially sold for US$20,000. The first-generation Insight was produced from 2000 to 2006 and had a fuel economy of 70 miles per US gallon (3.4 L/100 km; 84 mpg-imp) for the EPA's highway rating, the most fuel-efficient mass-produced car at the time. Total global sales for the Insight amounted to only around 18,000 vehicles.
Honda introduced the second-generation Insight in its home nation of Japan in February 2009, and released it in other markets through 2009 and in the U.S. market in April 2009. At $19,800 as a five-door hatchback it will be the least expensive hybrid available in the U.S. Honda expects to sell 200,000 of the vehicles each year, with half of those sales in the United States.
Since 2002, Honda has also been selling the Honda Civic Hybrid (2003 model) in the U.S. market It was followed by the Honda Accord Hybrid, offered in model years 2005 through 2007. Sales of the Honda CR-Z began in Japan in February 2010, becoming Honda's third hybrid electric car in the market.
In an interview in early February 2011, a Honda executive disclosed that Honda produces around 200,000 hybrids a year in Japan.
Hydrogen fuel cell
In Takanezawa, Japan, on 16 June 2008, Honda Motors produced the first assembly-line FCX Clarity, a hybrid hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. More efficient than a gas-electric hybrid vehicle, the FCX Clarity combines hydrogen and oxygen from ordinary air to generate electricity for an electric motor.
The vehicle itself does not emit any pollutants and its only by products are heat and water. The FCX Clarity also has an advantage over gas-electric hybrids in that it does not use an internal combustion engine to propel itself. Like a gas-electric hybrid, it uses a lithium ion battery to assist the fuel cell during acceleration and capture energy through regenerative braking, thus improving fuel efficiency. The lack of hydrogen filling stations throughout developed countries will keep production volumes low. Honda will release the vehicle in groups of 150. California is the only U.S. market with infrastructure for fueling such a vehicle, though the number of stations is still limited. Building more stations is expensive, as the California Air Resources Board (CARB) granted $6.8 million for four H2 fueling stations, costing $1.7 million USD each.
Marketing
Japan
Honda Clio (Saitama, Saitama, Japan)
Starting in 1978, Honda in Japan decided to diversify their sales distribution channels, and created Honda Verno, which sold established products with a higher content of standard equipment and a more sporting nature. The establishment of Honda Verno coincided with its new sports compact, called the Honda Prelude. Later, the Honda Vigor, the Honda Ballade, and the Honda Quint were added to Honda Verno stores. The word "verno" is a mountain range covering the northeastern Kastoria and southwestern Florina prefectures in Greece. Its peaks stand over 2,128 m (6,982 ft).
As sales progressed, Honda created two more sales channels, called Honda Clio in 1984, and Honda Primo in 1985. In Greek mythology, Clio ( / ̍ k l aɪ . oʊ / ; Greek: Κλειώ) or Kleio, is the muse of history. In Italian, the word "primo" means "first" or "prime". The Honda Clio chain sold products that were traditionally associated with Honda dealerships before 1978, like the Honda Accord, and Honda Primo sold the Honda Civic, kei cars, such as the Honda Today, superminis like the Honda Capa, along with other Honda products, such as farm equipment, lawn mowers, portable generators, marine equipment, motorcycles, and scooters. A styling tradition was established when Honda Primo and Clio began operations, in that all Verno products had the rear license plate installed in the rear bumper, while Primo and Clio products had the rear license plate installed on the trunk lid or rear door for minivans. As of March 2006, the three sales chains were discontinued, with the establishment of
Honda Cars dealerships.[73] Honda sells genuine accessories through a separate retail chain called "Honda Access" for both their motorcycle, scooter and automobile products. Buyers of used vehicles are directed to a specific Honda retail chain that sells only used vehicles called Honda Auto Terrace.
In 2003, Honda released its Cog advertisement in the UK and on the Internet. To make the ad, the engineers at Honda constructed a Rube Goldberg Machine made entirely out of car parts from a Europe Market Honda Accord (upon which the US market Acura TSX is based). To the chagrin of the engineers at Honda, all the parts were taken from two of only six hand-assembled pre-production models of the Accord. The advertisement depicted a single cog which sets off a chain of events that ends with the Honda Accord moving and Garrison Keillor speaking the tagline, "Isn't it nice when things just... work?" It took 606 takes to get it perfect
In 2004, they produced the Grrr advert, usually immediately followed by a shortened version of the 2005 Impossible Dream advert.
A post 2005 style Honda dealership in Moncton, Canada
In December 2005, Honda released The Impossible Dream a two-minute panoramic advertisement filmed in New Zealand, Japan and Argentina which illustrates the founder's dream to build performance vehicles. While singing the song "Impossible Dream", a man reaches for his racing helmet, leaves his trailer on a minibike, then rides a succession of vintage Honda vehicles: a motorcycle, then a car, then a powerboat, then goes over a waterfall only to reappear piloting a hot air balloon, with Garrison Keillor saying "I couldn't have put it better myself" as the song ends. The song is from the 1960s musical Man Of La Mancha, sung by Andy Williams
In 2006, Honda released its Choir advertisement, for the UK and the internet. This featured a 60-person choir who sang the car noises as film of the Honda Civic are shown.
For the last several years in the United States, during model close-out sales for the current year before the start of the new model year, Honda's advertising has featured an animated character known simply as Mr. Opportunity, voiced by Rob Paulsen. The casual looking man talks about various deals offered by Honda and ends with the phrase "I'm Mr. Opportunity, and I'm knockin'", followed by him "knocking" on the television screen or "thumping" the speaker at the end of radio ads. Also, commercials for Honda's international hatchback, the Jazz, are parodies of well-known pop culture images such as Tetris and Thomas The Tank Engine.
In late 2006, Honda released an ad with ASIMO exploring a museum, looking at the exhibits with almost child-like wonderment (spreading out its arms in the aerospace exhibit, waving hello to an astronaut suit that resembles him, etc.), while Garrison Keillor ruminates on progress. It concludes with the tagline: "More forwards please".
Honda also sponsored ITV's coverage of Formula One in the UK for 2007. However they had announced that they would not continue in 2008 due to the sponsorship price requested by ITV being too high.
In May 2007, focuses on their strengths in racing and the use of the Red H badge – a symbol of what is termed as "Hondamentalism". The campaign highlights the lengths that Honda engineers go to in order to get the most out of an engine, whether it is for bikes, cars, powerboats – even lawnmowers. Honda released its Hondamentalism campaign. In the TV spot, Garrison Keillor says, "An engineer once said to build
something great is like swimming in honey", while Honda engineers in white suits walk and run towards a great light, battling strong winds and flying debris, holding on to anything that will keep them from being blown away. Finally one of the engineers walks towards a red light, his hand outstretched. A web address is shown for the Hondamentalism website. The digital campaign aims to show how visitors to the site share many of the Hondamentalist characteristics.
At the beginning of 2008, Honda released – the Problem Playground. The advert outlines Honda's environmental responsibility, demonstrating a hybrid engine, more efficient solar panels and the FCX Clarity, a hydrogen powered car. The 90 second advert features large scale puzzles, involving Rubik's cubes, large shapes and a 3-dimensional puzzle.
On 29 May 2008, Honda, in partnership with Channel 4, broadcast a live advertisement. It showed skydivers jumping from an aeroplane over Spain and forming the letters H, O, N, D and A in mid-air. This live advertisement is generally agreed to be the first of its kind on British television. The advert lasted three minutes. The next flight of one of the two planes involved resulted in a fatal crash as the plane broke apart in mid-air.
In 2009, American Honda released the Dream the Impossible documentary series, a collection of 5–8 minute web vignettes that focus on the core philosophies of Honda. Current short films include Failure: The Secret to Success, Kick Out the Ladder and Mobility 2088. They feature Honda employees as well as Danica Patrick, Christopher Guest, Ben Bova, Chee Pearlman, Joe Johnston and Orson Scott Card. The film series plays at dreams.honda.com.
Sports
In Australia, Honda advertised heavily during most motor racing telecasts, and was the official sponsor of the 2006 FIA Formula 1 telecast on broadcaster channel "Ten". In fact, it was the only manufacturer involved in the 2006 Indy Racing League season. In a series of adverts promoting the history of Honda's racing heritage, Honda claimed it "built" cars that won 72 Formula 1 Grand Prix. Skeptics have accused Honda of interpreting its racing history rather liberally, saying that virtually all of the 72 victories were achieved by Honda powered (engined) machines, whereas the cars themselves were designed and built by Lotus F1, Williams F1, and McLaren F1 teams, respectively. However, former and current staff of the McLaren F1 team have reiterated that Honda contributed more than just engines and provided various chassis, tooling, and aerodynamic parts as well as funding. Ayrton Senna, arguably the greatest F1 driver of all time, repeatedly stated that Honda probably played the most significant role in his three world championships. He had immense respect for founder, Soichiro Honda, and had a good relationship with Nobuhiko Kawamoto, the chairman of Honda at that time. Senna once called Honda "the greatest company in the world".
As part of its marketing campaign, Honda is an official partner and sponsor of the National Hockey League, the Anaheim Ducks of the NHL, and the arena named after it: Honda Center. Honda also sponsors The Honda Classic golf tournament and is a sponsor of Major League Soccer. The "Honda Player of the Year" award is presented in United States soccer. The "Honda Sports Award" is given to the best female athlete in each of twelve college sports in the United States. One of the twelve Honda Sports Award winners is chosen to receive the Honda-Broderick Cup, as "Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year."
Facilities (partial list)
Main article: List of Honda facilities
Mainstream models
See also: List of Honda motorcycles and List of Honda vehicles
Cars Prelude Accord Civic CityFit (Jazz in some markets)
Energy/Hybrid/OtherCivic Hybrid
FCX Clarity
InsightCR-Z
SUVs Pilot Element
Trucks Ridgeline
Crossovers CR-V Crosstour
Vans Odyssey
Sales
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Calendar year Total US sales
1999 1,076,893
2000 1,158,860
2001 1,207,639
2002 1,247,834
2003 1,349,847
2004 1,394,398
2005 1,462,472
2006 1,509,358
2007 1,551,542
2008 1,284,261
2009 1,150,784
2010 1,230,480
CORE COMPANY PROFILE
J SP HONDA
STARTED IN: 1989
STARTED BY: P.Sudharsan
CHAIRMAN: Mrs.P.Jhansi
AS A DEALER FOR HONDA IN:2001
DEALER IN: HONDA Two Wheelers
TOTAL SALE: 20000
JSP Honda formerly Classic Bikes is being run byMrs.P.Jhansi, who hails from Achanta a village from the rich and fertile West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. She married Shri.S.Ponraj who was then a town planning officer started their humble beginning in Chennai. Sheer hard work, Perseverance, good enterprenual skills and after some initial set back saw them through a successful business career.
As Mr.Ponraj was busy with his Governmental job, Mrs.Jhansi single handedly ventured into the Automotive Business after her son P.Sudharsan initiated the startup. In 1989 the family entered with the Automotive Business by bagging the Yamaha Motorcycle dealership.
Soon the Escort Yamaha Management awarded them with the C&F (distribution) of motorcycles all over TamilNadu within a short period of time the company "Classic Bikes" became a flag slip dealer of Escorts Yamaha Motors Ltd. In the year 2000-2001 saw the company rechristened as JSP Honda from Classic Bikes after surrendering their Yamaha dealership and taking up HMSI (Honda Motorcycle and Scooters (I) Pvt. Ltd) dealership. From then on theres no turning back for JSP Honda, under the able ownership by Mrs.P.Jhansi, JSP Honda has risen to greater heights and have sold 20,000 vehicles and still counting.
Recently JSP Honda has topped in Shine Sales and stands numero uno in achieving the highest sales for Honda Unicorn 150cc motorcycle in 2005-2006, and Honda Shine 125cc in 2006-2007 among all dealers in TamilNadu. All these results have been possible only with the best efforts by the Management and the entire staff of JSP Honda and of course not without the large and loyal customer base holding it up.
With a strong market presence in the two wheeler industry since the year 1989, J.S.P Honda(formerly Classic Bikes) started their journey a fresh with the world leader in Two Wheeler Motorcycle and Scooter technology HONDA MOTOR CO., Japan Honda Motorcycles and Scooters(I) Pvt Ltd.(HMSI) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Co Japan.
J.S.P Honda is privileged to Kick start their operations as a dealer for HMSI in the year 2001 by being a dealer. Since then theres been no looking back. Till date J.S.P
Honda has sold close 20,000 Scooters/Motorcycles and is counting. Each year there's a milestone crossed and all along in this journey J.S.P Honda has been able to achieve all this only with the contant support extended by the ever loyal coustomers and its hardworking and supportive staff.
Having its head quarters and main operations on the busy 2nd Avenue, Anna Nagar just close to the famous Anna Nagar Ayappan Temple. J.S.P has expanded its operatios to cater to the ever increasing list of customers from adjoining areas like Ambattur, Choolai and soon to be opened Perambur Branch. All the branches are owned by J.S.P Honda and operated. All branches are effciently managed to give the legendary dealer support that J.S.P Honda has always stood for over the years.
SWOT Analysis
STRENGTHS
High quality products to exceed customer expectations.
Attractive design and colours.
Strong brand name all over the world as well as in India.
Availability of easy finance schemes from Bussan Auto Finance.
Use of latest technology for production.
Low maintenance and low expenses per kilometer.
Now it comes with a changed handlebar which is more comfortable to drive.
Availability of the product in the market.
Broad and intensive distribution network across the country
WEAKNESS
Honda doesn’t have a strong ability to compete in motor sports vehicle in India
Few people are not satisfied with the mileage of the bikes.
Not giving promotional schemes for longer time periods
Poor Advertisement of the product
OPPURTUNITIES
The Sales may be increased if advertisements are made more attracting to the young generation and the advertisement is made with any celebrity.
Targeting the upper-middle class people and the young generation.
Retailer’s motivation.
Demand is increasing with the time in the motorcycle segment.
One of the best and popular brands of the world, so company can use its brand image for advertising and attracting people.
The vast rural market is opportunity in waiting by catering to attractive financial schemes
THREATS
Low end cars like TATA Nano are eating away the share of high end motorcycle manufacturers.
Bajaj and TVS are also producing same segment bikes at same price with more powerful engine.
Bajaj Pulsar is the strongest rival with high performance and frequent variations and up gradations.
Different effective promotional schemes of competitors.
Yamaha has a good market in motor sport vehicle in India
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Concept of Branding:
The concept of Branding holds tremendous importance since many years; it is the key to
distinguish the goods and services from one to another. Customer’s simple understanding of
brand is to associate and reckon with easy information processing about products purchasing and
being certain about the brand to build their trust with time (Logo Design works, 2007). This
reflects the greater need from the organization’s point of view to have strong brands build
through proper brand management resulting from effective marketing programs to create brand
equity. The modern concept of branding grew out of the consumer packaged goods industry and
the process of branding has come to include much more than just creating a way to identify a
product or company. Branding today is
used to create emotional attachments to products and companies (Dolak, 2003; Kotler &
Armstrong, 2004). Branding efforts create a feeling of involvement, a sense of higher quality, and
an aura of intangible qualities that surround the brand name, mark, or symbol (Aaker,
1991;Dolak, 2003).Brands basically create perceptions in the mind of the consumer that it is
unique and there is no other similar product or service in the market. Therefore, a brand is to say
to be strong entity if it is consistent over a long period of time in providing the product or service
which consumers and prospective purchasers can rely and trust, which will lead to a Brand
promise (Srinvasan, Park & Chang, 2005).
Brand Equity
The most important assets of any business are intangible — including its base of loyal
customers, brands, symbols & slogans — and the brand’s underlying image, personality, identity,
attitudes, familiarity, associations and name awareness. These assets — along with patents,
trademarks, and channel relationships — comprise brand equity, and are a primary source of
equity is initially built by laying a foundation of brand awareness — eventually forming positive
brand images — and is ultimately maximized by high levels of brand loyalty, which is illustrated
in the following
Figure 1(Strategic Marketing and Research Techniques, 1992-2008):
The Brand Loyalty is the result of the success of the Brand Equity which is built as shown in the
pyramid of the various variables, which makes the brand more stronger and satisfying to be
consumed more often – thus expanding its value in the longer run through generating profits. The
importance of brand equity consists of numerous benefits for companies that own brands. Brand
equity has positive association with brand loyalty. More precisely, brand equity increases the
probability of brand selection, leading to customer loyalty to a specific brand (Pitta & Katsanis,
1995).
Factors that Influences Brand Equity
The following are the five major factors said by Aaker (2002, p.7) to influence the Brand Equity
as ‘Brand Equity (like company equity) is the set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand
that adds or subtract from the brand value.
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness refers to the strength of a brand’s presence in the consumer’s
mind” (Aaker, 1996, p.10). In general, awareness describes peoples’ perception and cognitive
reaction to a condition or event. Awareness does not necessarily imply understanding as it is an
abstract concept. Awareness may be focused on an internal state, such as an instinctive feeling,
or on external events such as sensory perception.
Marton and Booth (1997) give good examples of awareness: People have earlier experience of a
certain situation and are aware of that. They are also aware of who they are, the background to
the circumstances, where being located as well as the emotions to the place, what time of year it
is and what day it is, and also what to do the rest of the day. Even though, there is
awareness of everything at the same time, the intensity varies. Peoples’ awareness is
reshaping its structure constantly, and what we call awareness is the sum of the individual’s
experience. So it is possible to do one thing while still be aware of many other things. Brand
awareness is the capacity of consumers to recognise or remember a brand, and there is a
linkage between the brand and the product class, but the link does not have to be strong.
Brand awareness is a process from where the brand is just known to a level when the
consumers have put the brand on a higher rank; the brand has become the “top of mind”
(Aaker, 1991).
It is a measure of the percentage of the target market that is aware of a brand name (Bovee et al,
1995). Marketers can create awareness among their target audience through repetitive advertising
and publicity (Stryfom et al., 1995). Brand awareness can provide a host of competitive
advantages for the marketer. These include the following
(Aaker, 1996):
* Brand awareness renders the brand with a sense of familiarity.
* Name awareness can be a sign of presence, commitment and substance.
* The salience of a brand will decide if it is recalled at a key time in the purchasing process.
* Brand awareness is an asset that can be inordinately durable and thus sustainable. It may be
extremely difficult to dislodge a brand that had achieved a dominant awareness level (Aaker,
1996). Brand awareness is vitally important for all brands but high brand awareness without an
understanding of what sets one apart from the competition does one virtually no good. (p. 174)
Brand Awareness study by Aaker
Organizations can generate brand awareness by, firstly having a broad sales base, and secondly
becoming skilled at operating outside the normal media channels (Aaker, 1996).
Brand awareness is measured according to the different ways in which consumers remember a
brand, which may include brand recognition, brand recall, top of the mind brand and dominant
brand (Aaker, 1996).
* Brand recognition: It related to consumers’ ability to confirm prior exposure to that brand when
given the brand a cue. It requires that consumers can correctly discriminate the brand as having
been previously seen or heard.
* Brand recall: Brand recall relates to consumers’ aptitude to retrieve the brand from memory
given the product category, the needs fulfilled by the category or a purchase or usage situation as
a cue. It requires consumers to correctly generate the brand from memory when given a relevant
cue.
* Top-of-mind brand: This is the brand name that first comes to mind when a consumer is
presented with the name of a product classification.
* Dominant Brand: The ultimate awareness level is brand name dominance, where in a recall
task; most consumers can only provide the name of a single brand.
Therefore the challenge facing the marketers is to build awareness and presence both
economically and efficiently (Aaker, 1996).
1. Brand recognition: This level is the first stage of brand awareness. It is when the consumers
can recognise a specific brand among others; “aided recall”. Aided recall can also be
explained as a situation where a set of given brand names from a given product class is shown.
The task is then to identify the recognized names. Brand recognition is major when consumers
face the buying procedure.
2. Brand recall: This is upon the consumers to name the trademark in a product class.
Apart from level one, this is an “unaided recall” since there are not given any examples of
specific brands. The role of brand recall can also be vital for regularly purchased products
like coffee, detergent, and headache remedies, for which brand decisions usually are made prior
going to the store. Further on, in some categories (such as cereal) there are so many
recognised alternatives that the shopper is overwhelmed.
3.Top of mind: A brand that is “top of mind” is the first brand that consumers think of
within a given product class (Aaker, 1991). Brand awareness is important since a lot of the
consumers feel that if the brand is well known it has good quality. Most important is not that
the brand is well known, it is what it is known for (Melin, 1999). Further, awareness is a very
important brand advantage, but it cannot sell the product, especially not if the product is new
(Aaker, 1991).
In the literature there are many facts that show that brand awareness affects consumer choice
and thereby their choice of brand. Lin and Chang (2003) found by their research that brand
awareness had the strongest effect on purchase decision on habitual behavior of low
involvement products. They also wrote that Hoyer and Brown (1990) examined the role played
by brand awareness in consumer decision making process and found that it was a dominant
factor. Likewise, Jiang’s (2004) investigation also shows that brand name, in other words
recognition of a brand, has an impact on consumers’ choice.
Achieving Brand Awareness
Recognition and recall in attaining awareness, engage two responsibilities: to increase the
brand name identity as well as linking the characteristics to the item. This is in particular vital
when the product is new (Aaker, 1991). Aaker (1991) has set up the following factors
concerning how to achieve brand awareness:
• Be different, memorable: Today, many products seem alike and the communication in the
product clusters is related. Therefore, it is important to differentiate the product, although, the
bond between the product class and the brand has to exist for easier recognition.
• Involve a slogan or jingle: There can be a stronger linkage between a slogan and a brand
because it involves a visual feature of the brand. By this, the jingle or slogan is powerful and
can make a big change.
• Symbol exposure: It is important to have a known symbol, because it is easy to memorize and
recall a visual illustration. A logo, either an already existing one or a developed one, which is
connected to the brand, can take a huge part in forming and keeping awareness.
• Publicity: Advertising is a proficient way to get publicity and make awareness, since it
can be customized to the communication and the addressees.
• Event sponsorship: The primary role of most event sponsorship is to create or maintain
awareness.
• Consider brand extensions: To show the name or the logo on the products, and make the name
more prominent, is one way to increase brand recall.
Examples of names that can be found, promoted, shown and publicized on other products, than
the key product, are Coca-Cola, Heinz and Sunkist
. • Using cues: The package is one of the most important cues to a brand, since that is what
the purchaser sees when buying the product. If not knowing the brand or the product, the
only contact to the brand is the package.
• Recall requires repetition: It is easier to build up recognition than to build up recall of a brand.
It can be compared to the fact that one can recognise a face of a person but do not recall the
name. Therefore the link between the brand and the product class needs to be stronger and the
brand needs to be more prominent than in the recognition of the brand. To receive a top of mind
recall is even harder.
• The recall bonus: To keep a top position through regular publicity creates brand awareness as
well as a strong brand which in turn leads to decreasing recall of competitive brands.
To achieve brand awareness, it is important to have a special hallmark because it is the
hallmark that consumers recognise. It is easy to mix up consumer brand and corporate brand
with hallmarks. A hallmark makes it possible to identify a brand. A hallmark is not the same as
a symbol because it is much wider.
Measuring Brand Awareness
As mentioned above, Keller (2003) claims that brand awareness consists of recognition and
recall and that brand awareness in its turn is a part of brand knowledge. To measure brand
awareness effectively it is important to know where most of the consumer decisions are made.
If many decisions are made at the point of the purchase, where the brand, logo, packaging etc.
are visible, brand recognition measures will be important. If consumer decisions mostly are
made away from the point of purchase the brand recall measures become more important. The
most basic procedure of recognition is to ask the consumer which one of several listed items they
have previously seen or heard of. There are different measures of brand recall depending on
the types of signals given to the consumers: unaided recall and aided recall, which are
described above. It is very important to be aware of spurious awareness in measuring brand
awareness. It means that consumers may erroneously claim that they recall something that they
really do not and even claim that they recall something that do not exist (Keller, 2003).
Brand Loyalty:
As described above brand loyalty is a part of brand equity. Brand loyalty affects the
consumers’ choice of brand to a high extent. When consumers are loyal to a brand, they buy the
product of this specific brand on a regular basis. Through this behaviour, they can be sure to
get what they pay for. Further, by being this loyal, the consumers close their eyes for other
brands, which may be even better brands than the chosen one. In that way, brands with many
loyal consumers have great advantages. They can handle competition in terms of lower
price and improved products much better if they have many loyal consumers (Usiner, 2000).
Therefore, there is low equity if the buyers have low care about the brand and its name. The
other way around, there is high equity if the consumers focus on the brand or maybe
even the logo and jingle, and have little respect if other brands have a better product and/or a
lower price (Aaker, 1991).
Moreover, Aaker explains that loyalty is basically a measured capacity of how much a
purchaser can be emotionally involved in a brand. It shows how much consumers are willing to
change to another brand, especially when the other brand has a greater feature or a more positive
price difference. By the time, when the loyalty gets higher, the consumers’ platform and the
competition against competitors get stronger. Brand loyalty can straight away explain
upcoming sales, which is an indicator that brand equity is related to future profit. Further,
there are different grades of loyalty; non customers are those who buy competitor brands or do
not buy the product. Price switchers are those who are price sensitive. The passive loyal are those
who buy the brand out of habit rather than reason. Fence sitters are indifferent between
two or more brands and finally, the committed are the ones who are truly loyal (Aaker, 1991;
2002). According to Hankingson and Cowking (1996), Kotler has done a similar classification of
brand loyalty. He has named the different levels as switchers, shifting loyals, soft-core
loyals and hard-core loyals. Brand awareness, perceived quality and an effective, clear
brand identity can contribute to higher loyalty (Aaker, 2002).
BRAND POSITIONONG:
Brand positioning refers to “target consumer’s” reason to buy your brand in preference to
others. It is ensures that all brand activity has a common aim; is guided, directed and delivered by
the brand’s benefits/reasons to buy; and it focuses at all points of contact with the consumer.
Brand positioning must make sure that:
Is it unique/distinctive vs. competitors?
Is it significant and encouraging to the niche market?
Is it appropriate to all major geographic markets and businesses?
Is the proposition validated with unique, appropriate and original products?
Is it sustainable - can it be delivered constantly across all points of contact with the consumer?
Is it helpful for organization to achieve its financial goals?
Is it able to support and boost up the organization?
In order to create a distinctive place in the market, a niche market has to be carefully chosen and a
differential advantage must be created in their mind. Brand positioning is a medium through
which an organization can portray it’s customers what it wants to achieve for them and what it
wants to mean to them. Brand positioning forms customer’s views and opinions.
Brand positioning is the sum of all activities that position the brand in the mind of the customer
relative to its competition. Positioning is not about creating something new or different, but to
manipulate the mind set and to retie existing connections (Ries & Trout, 2001:2-5). Kotler and
Keller define brand positioning as an "act of designing the company's offering and image to
occupy a distinct place in the mind of the target market.
Brand Positioning can be defined as an activity of creating a brand offer in such a manner that it
occupies a distinctive place and value in the target customer’s mind. For instance-Kotak
Mahindra positions itself in the customer’s mind as one entity- “Kotak ”- which can provide
customized and one-stop solution for all their financial services needs. It has an unaided top of
mind recall. It intends to stay with the proposition of “Think Investments, Think Kotak”. The
positioning you choose for your brand will be influenced by the competitive stance you want to
adopt.
Brand Positioning involves identifying and determining points of similarity and difference to
ascertain the right brand identity and to create a proper brand image. Brand Positioning is the key
of marketing strategy. A strong brand positioning directs marketing strategy by explaining the
brand details, the uniqueness of brand and it’s similarity with the competitive brands, as well as
the reasons for buying and using that specific brand. Positioning is the base for developing and
increasing the required knowledge and perceptions of the customers. It is the single feature that
sets your service apart from your competitors. For instance- Kingfisher stands for youth and
excitement. It represents brand in full flight.
There are various positioning errors, such as-
Under positioning- This is a scenario in which the customer’s have a blurred and unclear idea of
the brand.
Over positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers have too limited a awareness of the
brand.
Confused positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers have a confused opinion of the
brand.
Double Positioning- This is a scenario in which customers do not accept the claims of a brand
CHAPTER III
3.0 Research Methodology
3.1 Research Design
Research design is an arrangement of condition for collection and
analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to research purpose with
an economy in procedure. Research design is needed because it facilitates the smooth
ailing of the various research operations, thereby making research efficient possible
yielding maximal information with minimal expenditure. Research design used in this
project is Single Cross-sectional design where one sample is drawn from a population of
interest. In this research design a cross sectional study is concerned with a sample of
elements from a given population. Data on a number of characteristics from the sample
elements are collected and analyzed.
Research is defined as human activity based on intellectual application in the investigation of
matter. The primary purpose for applied research is discovering, interpreting, and the
development of methods and scientific matters of our world and the universe.
According to Philip Kotlar, “Research is the systematic design, collection, analysis and
reporting of data and findings relevant to a specific marketing situation facing the
company.” Following are the steps of research process.
1. Formulation of research problem
2. Choice of research design
3. Determining sources of data
4. Designing data collection forms
3.2 Types of Research:
Exploratory research: The research is an exploratory when; one is seeking insight to
general nature of the problem, the possible alternatives and relevant variables that
need to be considered. The methods are flexible, unstructured and qualitative.
Descriptive research: It provides an accurate position of a particular aspect
of the market environment. The purpose of descriptive research is together a quantified
measurement of a specific reaction. It is structured. Most of the data that we needed are
gathered in some form of direct or indirect question which further will depend upon:
• Nature of the question
• Time frame of study
• Funds available
• Kinds of respondents
This project is totally based on survey of the market i.e. people and a lot of research on
the web, so for that a DESCRIPTIVE type of research design was used. Descriptive
research provides an accurate position of a particular aspect of the market condition.
The purpose of this research is together quantified measurement of a specific type of
reaction. It is a structure most of the data that we collected from the field are gathered in
some form of direct or indirect question.
3.3 Research Instruments:
1. Questionnaires
2. Personal Interviews
3.4 Designing the Questionnaire:
While designing the Questionnaires certain things were kept in mind such as
simplicity, length and clarity.
Personal Interviews
Personal interview is mostly used method of data collection. Two purposive
communications between interviewer (researcher) and the respondent (subject) aimed at
obtaining and recording information pertinent to the subject matter of study. The
interviewer resents oral, verbal and written stimuli and receives oral resonances.
3.5 Sampling Method
Non-probability sampling was used. Non-probability sampling is that sampling
procedure which does not afford any basis for estimating probability that each item in
population has being included in the sample. Under non-probability sampling organizers
of enquiry purposely select particular unit of universe for constituting a sample on the
basis of the small mass that they so select out of huge one will be typical or
representative of the whole. Adequate consideration was taken to bring a
heterogeneous group in terms of age, income, occupation etc. to make the results
credible.
3.6 Sample Size
The sampling are collected from 100 Respondence
3.7 Data Collection Tools:
The primary data are those, which are collected afresh and for first time and thus
happen to be original in character.
The secondary are those which have been collected by someone else and which have
already been passed through statistical process.
Data has been collected by the researcher by Primary sources such as questionnaire
and personnel interview. It included 20 questions and 100 customers were given the
questionnaire and response was taken from them. Charts and graphs will be used for
presentation of data for easy understanding and interpretation.
3.8 Limitations of the Study:
• The survey was restricted to Chennai.
• Inadequate time to follow the customer response.
• Lack of experience in handling surveys.
• Most of the respondents were having inadequate time for filling in the
questionnaire
• Unwillingness of respondent to provide information.
• Inability of respondent to provide the exact information
• The study was based on the assumption that the respondents will always be
truthful and correct. But this assumption might not be true always
• Time Constraint: Analysis pertaining to project title and the field survey has
to be done in a span of two months. This may limit the scope of the survey.
• Some respondents refuse to co-operate.
• Some respondents replied half heartedly.
• Some respondents gave incomplete information.
CHAPTER IV
TABLE4. 1.1
AGE GROUP YOU BELONG TO
Si no Particulars Frequency Precentage 1 Age 18-30 60 60% 2 Age 30-40 15 15% 3 Age 40-50 13 13% 4 Age 50&above 12 12% Total 100 100%
INFERENCE: Majority of the people on the survey lies between 18-30 age group. Few in 30-40 range and few in 40-50 range and few in 50&above range
TABLE 4.1.
TABLE 4.1.3
CURRENTLY USING ANY TWO WHEELERS
Si no Particulars Frequency Percentage 1 yes 80 80% 2 No 20 20% Total 100 100%
INFERENCE: MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE ARE USING TWO WHEELER AND VERY FEW ARE ONLY NOT USING ANY TWO WHEELER
TABLE 4.1.3
CURRENTLY USING ANY TWO WHEELERS
Si no Particulars Frequency Percentage 1 yes 80 80% 2 No 20 20% Total 100 100%
INFERENCE: MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE ARE USING TWO WHEELER AND VERY FEW ARE ONLY NOT USING ANY TWO WHEELER
TABLE 4.1.5
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT CBR 250R? Si no Particular Frequency Percentage 1 No idea 44 44% 2 Style &looks 15 15% 3 Honda brand 25 25% 4 Alloy wheels 7 7% 5 Other 9 9% Total 100 100%
INFERENCE: Majority of people know about its style, Honda brand, front full cowl, maintenance free battery and alloys etc. rest of the people don’t have any idea about the bike
TABLE 4.1.6
FROM WHERE DID YOU GOT IDEA ABOUT CBR 250R?
Si no Particulars Frequency Precentage 1 No idea 38 38% 2 Others 15 15% 3 Auto magazine 7 7% 4 News paper 15 15% 5 Television 25 25% Total 100 100%
INFERENCE: Most of the people got idea about the bike from television. Some got idea from newspaper and some from auto magazine some from other media’s. Majority of people have no idea about the bike
TABLE 4.1.7
HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF BUYING CBR 250R? Si no Particulars Frequency Percentage 1 Yes 26 26% 2 No 74 74% Total 100 100%
INFERENCE: Most of the people have no idea of buying CBR 250R and only few people have an idea of buying the bike
TABLE 4.1.8
HOW DO YOU RATE THE SATISFACTION LEVEL OF CBR 250R
Si no Particulars Frequency Percentage 1 Very satisfied 5 5% 2 Satisfied 14 14% 3 Can’t say 26 26% 4 Dissatisfied 17 17% 5 None of the above 38 38% Total 100 100%
INFERENCE:
Majority of the people have not answered anything about the satisfaction level of the bike. Very few are very satisfied with the bike and few are satisfied. Many said can’t say anything related to the satisfaction level and few are dissatisfied with the bike
TABLE4.1.9
ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE PRICE OF CBR 250R?
Si no Particulars Frequency Percentage
1 Yes 30 30%
2 No 34 34%
3 No idea 36 36%
Total 100 100%
INFERENCE:
Many people out of our responds said that CBR 250R is costly and some said no the price of the bike is cheap when compared to other 250cc bike and majority of the people don’t have any idea about the bike
30%
34%
36%
ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE PRICE OF CBR 250R?
yes
no
no idea
TABLE 4.1.10
ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF CBR250R?
Si no Particulars Frequency Percentage 1 Satisfied 41 41% 2 Highly satisfied 0 0% 3 Dissatisfied 23 23% 4 No idea 36 36% Total 100 100%
INFERENCE:
Majority of the people are satisfied with the performance of the bike and some are dissatisfied with the performance of the bike and many don’t even had a idea about the bike and none are highly satisfied with the performance of the bike
SATISFIED HIGHLY SATISFIED DISSATISFIED NO IDEA
Series1 41 0 23 36
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
No of respondes
ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF CBR250R?
TABLE 4.1.11
IS CBR250R SAFER THAN OTHER BRAND?
Si no Particulars Frequency Percentage 1 Yes 49 49% 2 No 15 15% 3 No idea 36 36% Total 100 100%
INFERENCE:
Majority of the people said CBR250R is the safest brand when compared to other competitor and few said no it’s not the safest brand when compared to others and many don’t have the idea about its safeties because they don’t know about the bike
49%
15%
36%
IS CBR250R SAFER THAN OTHER BRAND?
yes
no
no idea
TABLE4.1.12
WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO THINK OF BUYING CBR 250R?
Si no Particulars Frequency Percentage 1 Styles and looks 8 8% 2 Honda brand 6 6% 3 Front full cowl 2 2% 4 Price 0 0 5 No idea 84 84% Total 100 100%
INFERENCE:
Majority of the people don’t have any idea of buying CBR 250R so nothing motivates them to think of buying the bike and few thought of buying it by looking at its styles and looks and few thought of buying it because of Honda brand and very few thought of buying it because of its front full cowl
styles and looks
honda brand front full cowl price noidea
Series1 8 6 2 0 84
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
NO of respondes
WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO THINK OF BUYING CBR 250R?
TABLE 4.1.13
Does the brand product meet your expectations?
Si no Particulars Frequency Percentage 1 Yes 27 27% 2 No 37 37% 3 No idea 36 36% Total 100 100%
INFERENCE:
Majority of the people’s expectations are met and many people don’t have idea about it and few said that the brand doesn’t met there expectation
37%
27%
36%
Does the brand product meet your expectations?
yes
no
no idea
TABLE4.1.14
Have you ever received a free gift or discount from the purchase of CBR 250R?
Si no Particulars Frequency Percentage 1 Yes 0 0% 2 No 64 64% 3 No idea 36 36% Total 100 100%
INFERENCE:
Majority of the people said they didn’t received any gift from Honda because they haven’t purchased the bike yet and many don’t have any idea about it and none of the responds have received the gift because no one bought the bike yet
0%
64%
36%
Have you ever received a free gift or discount from the purchase of CBR 250R?
yes
no
no idea
TABLE 4.1.15
IS CBR 250R REALLY LOOKS STUNNING?
Si no Particulars Frequency Percentage
1 Yes 48 48%
2 No 16 16%
3 No idea 36 36%
Total 100 100%
INFERENCE:
Majority of the people said yes CBR 250R really looks stunning and few said no it doesn’t really looks stunning and few said they don’t have any idea about it
30%
34%
36%
IS CBR 250R REALLY LOOKS STUNNING?
yes
no
no idea
CHAPTER V
FINDINGS
• Finding states that only 62% of the responds have heard about CBR250R and
only 38% of people out of 100 responds have no idea about CBR250R
• Finding states that 74% of people out of 100 responds have not thought of buying
CBR250R and only 26% of people out of 100 responds are interested in buying the bike
• Finding states that 35% of responds are earning below rupees 10000 and only
33% of the people earns below rupees 20000and only 26% of people earns below rupees30000 and only 6% of responds earns above rupees 30000
• Finding states that 80% of people uses bike and only 20% of the responds don’t
use any type of bike
• Finding states that 72% of responds got idea from different sources like
television. Newspaper. Road shows. Friends. Website. Other media of advertisement and 38% of people have no idea about the bike
• Satisfaction level cannot be find because 38% of people have no idea about the
bike and 72% of people have idea about the bike but they haven’t test drive it
• Findings state that 41% of respondents are satisfied with the performance of CBR
250R, 23%of the respondents are dissatisfied with the performance of the CBR 250R and 36% of the respondents have no idea about the bike.
• Finding states that 30% of the respondents said yes They are satisfied with the
price of the bike,34% of the respondents said no they are not satisfied with the price of the bike and 36% of the respondents have no idea about the bike
• Findings states that 37% of the respondents said yes The brand product met their
expectation , 27% of the respondents said no The brand product haven’t met their expectations and 36% of the respondents have no idea about the bike.
• Findings states that 48% of the respondents said yes The brand product really
looks stunning, 16% of the respondents said no The brand product doesn’t looks stunning and 36% of the respondents have no idea about the bike
• Finding states that 49% of the respondents said yes the brand product is safer than
other brand 15% of the respondents said no it’s not the safest brand and 36% of the respondents have no idea about the bike
• Findings states that 64% of the respondents said no They haven’t received any
gift or discount from Honda because they haven’t purchased the bike yet and 36% of the respondents have no idea about the bike
• Finding states that 84% of the respondents don’t have any idea of buying CBR
250R so nothing motivates them to think of buying the bike,8%of the respondents are buying the CBR 250R because of its style and looks and 6% of the respondents are buying it because of Honda brand and 2% of the respondents have thought of buying it because of its front full cowl
SUGGESTIONS
• Have to increase the advertisement about the bike in the media’s like
television and other print media. The advertisement should be shown regularly in every break. And some other road show should be conducted about the bike
• The 74% of people have not thought of buying CBR 250R because they
don’t have idea about the bike and some know about the bike but they don’t have the idea about its price and they think that the bike is costly so they don’t think of buying it. And another reason is that the spare for the bike is not available in the market and these are the reason for not thinking of buying the CBR 250R
• More instalment plans should be allowed. Finance process should of easy.
More financial institution should come up with the finance for bike. Easy instalment plan should be made available etc…
• 20% of the people don’t use any bike and we have to focus on them and
make them to be our customer by offering them great discounts
• We have to focus on 38% of people who don’t have idea about the bike
we have to conduct a campaign and more advertisement should be conducted and the price of the bike should also be mentioned in the advertisement
• We have to allow the customer to test ride the bike and many said that the
handling of the bike should be improved and the sound of the bike should be reduced and more colours should be made available
CONCLUSIONS
• CBR 250R is the most favorite brand amongst youths in the Indian market.
• Company has to Build strong brand awareness and credibility among its
customers
• Honda is one of the makers of racing bikes by the respondents
• Youth (Students) are the major market for motorcycles in India.
• Honda produce vehicles for all age group
• Family/friends, TVCF and newspapers are the major source of awareness
for motorcycle brand awareness.
• Major influencing factors in the purchase of bikes are-family/ friends, personal
experience and girl friend
• Hero Honda and Bajaj are considered as brands with most consumer favorable
attributes. They are also the brands most likely to be preferred and recommended.
• Majority of the Consumers prefer red and black colour in general and also in their
bikes
• Yamaha has maximum number of models in the dream bikes category.
• Try to produces such vehicles that attract the customer
As the auto industry witnessed yet another year of good sales,
there is clear evidence that the dynamics of the Indian two-wheeler industry has changed
significantly over the last few years. While everyone knows that there has been constant
shift in demand towards motorcycles from geared scooters. Various companies have
entered into the two-wheeler industry. There are various competitors of Honda CBR
250R. The driver of growth for Hero was the launch of entry level, value-for-money bike
“HUNK” and the Upgraded version of “Splendor” and “Passion”. The company Yamaha
is a good competitor with the launched of R15 2.0 The company which had lost its
market share in FY02 has made a strong comeback and regained its share. Secondly
another company Bajaj is also leading in the two-wheeler in the market. The success
Bajaj’s latest model Pulsar has helped the company to stay clear of
adaggressive price reduction strategy. Besides, the recently launched CT100 had also
enjoyed a fair degree of success. TVS is also trying to capture the good market share by
introducing the different models of bikes. The industry has now acquired the traits of the
consumer durable industry, of price wars, celebrity endorsement and ever-increasing
sales and promotional out go. Earlier, Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto were the only producer
s of four-stroke motorcycles. Now, TVS Motor is also jostling for space in the four-stroke
market.
CHAPTER VI
Appendix.
Annexure
QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Age group you belong to
18-20 20-40 40-50 50 &above
2. Salary
0-10k 10-20k 20-30k 30k&above
3. Currently using any two wheeler
Yes no
4. Have you heard about CBR 250R
Yes no
5. What do you know about CBR 250R
No idea, style&look, Honda brand, alloy wheels, others
6. From where did you get idea about CBR 250R
No idea, others, auto magazine, newspaper, television,
7. Have you thought of buyimng CBR 250R
Yes no
8. How do you rate the satisfaction level of CBR 250R
Satisfied, highly satisfied, dissatisfied, can’t say
9. Does the brand product CBR 250R met your expectation
Yes no
10. Have you ever received a free gift or discount from the
purchase of CBR 250R
Yes no
11. Is CBR 250R is safer than other brand
Yes no
12. Are you satisfied with the performance of the bike CBR
250R
Satisfied , highly satisfied, dissatisfied
13. Is CBR 250R really looks stunning
Yes no
14.Are you satisfied with the price of CBR 250R
Yes no
15.What motivates you to think of buying CBR 250R
Yes no
REFERENCE & Bibliography Books:
• Principles of Marketing – Philip Kotler and Gery Armstrong, valume (7th
addition )
• How to Prepare for a Summer Project- Dr. Dilip M. Sarawate
