Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt Ltd (HMSI) has rolled out a new brand for its premium bikes, called the Silver Wing. Red Honda Wing is the brand for Honda’s mass-market bikes.

Under the new brand, which had a debut with the middle-weight CB300R in New Delhi earlier this month, will retail at Rs 2,41,000 ex-showroom across India as a completely knocked down (CKD) model.

HMSI will create a separate sales channel for its CKD and CBU models that will carry the Silver Wing mark. The CB300R joins the Africa Twins as the third CKD model to be sold in India.

As the two-wheeler industry stands at the cusp of emission and safety regulations, HSMI, so long a mass market player, is now focussing on the mid-weight category that yields higher profitability.

“It is not as if we are shifting away from the mass market segment. We have 20 models there and four factories to run. With bikes like the CB300R, we are taking baby steps in introducing premium biking in the country. We are starting seeding activity in the middle-weight segment, a tad late,” said Yadvinder Singh Guleria, senior vice-president, sales and marketing, HSMI.

While the middle-weight category ranges between 300cc and 600cc and sells more than 2 lakh bikes a year, the CB300R is in the niche cafe racer segment sold in 40 countries across four continents.

Daiki Mihara, GM, Honda Motorcycle Company, Japan, said, “We are committed to bringing new technology and innovation to India at competitive prices. We showcased five new products at EICMA 2018 and CB300R was one of them.”