New Delhi: Honda Motor and Scooters India (HMSI) has launched its first motorcycle in India - the four stroke 150cc Unicorn, priced at Rs53,000.

Targeted at the young, Unicorn is said to be sportier than the Bajaj Pulsar. Unicorn is a 13.3 bhp, four-stroke, five-gear (one down and four up) bike with a monocoque suspension system and an electric start option. The single shock absorber is in line with international norms. Sources said Honda is bringing in this bike with a constant vacuum (CV) carburettor to ensure mileage in excess of 60 kilometres to a litre of petrol.

Unicorn has been pitted against Bajaj Pulsar the current leader in the premium bike segment with 75 per cent market share. The other bikes in this segment apart from Pulsar are TVS' Fiero, LML's Graptor and Hero Honda's CBZ.

HMSI is targeting sales of 56,000 units of Unicorn this fiscal, and total sales of 530,000 units, 56 per cent higher than the previous year's sales of 340,000 units.

Honda Motor is also expanding capacity at its Manesar plant to 600,000 units from the present 450,000 units by next year. The company has announced plans to invest Rs500 crore to increase capacity over the next three to five years. The company has drawn up plans to increase its capacity to one million units by 2006-07.

HMSI executives said that along with Hero Honda the Japanese company aims to capture a market share of 50 per cent of the Indian two-wheeler market in the next five years. Market watchers expect HMSI to follow up the Unicorn with a 135cc bike next year.

Unicorn will first be launched first in the southern and eastern parts of the country and later extended to north, west and central India. The monthly volume, to start with, would be 3,000 units and scaled up to 12,000 units by the end of this fiscal.

HMSI entered the Indian two-wheeler market four years and has since then invested Rs500 crore in its operations in India. This year it wiped out accumulated loss and will make a net profit. HMSI also announced that it would be making its Indian operations an export hub for Asia.

According to Crisil MarketWire, HMSI has said its foray into the motorcycle segment would not affect its existing technical and equity alliance with Hero Honda Motors Ltd. Analysts say the sales of the Bajaj Pulsar, which is priced higher than the Unicorn, could be hit after the launch of the Unicorn two months later.

Apart from the Unicorn, HMSI's recently reported plans of entering the three-wheeler market are bound to pose a tough challenge to Bajaj, currently the market leader in the category with a 70 per cent market share. For Bajaj, the three-wheeler segment accounts for around 27 per cent of its revenues and is considered a cash cow for the company. Mahindra and Mahindra, Piaggio and Atul Auto remain marginal players in the passenger carrier segment.

HMSI has been very successful with its scooters (both geared and automatic) with both Honda Activa and Honda Dio doing well. Activa is said to have a waiting period for select colours in Chennai while Dio is available off-the-shelf, according to company sources. Eterno, the geared scooter, has been moderately successful in North India.