Honda ADV160 was one of the ten two-wheelers showcased by the company in July this year. Last month, the company had announced prices and opened pre-bookings for it and the Rebel 300. At the time, it had also specified that deliveries for both will begin in October. Now, it has delayed the delivery to next year.
- Localising and scaling up manufacturing appears to be a challenge for the moment
- ADV160 will be available via Honda BigWing and RedWing dealerships
- Pre-bookings are still open
Has better equipment and availability than its direct rivals
While there’s no official confirmation as to what the reason is for postponement, we gather it to be production-related. Honda had announced that manufacturing for all ten vehicles will happen locally. Six of those vehicles were brand-new to India (except for the CB350 series and the Rebel 500 that was previously a CBU). Even for a manufacturer of Honda’s scale, that is a challenge on various accounts and that is perhaps why the ADV160 deliveries have been delayed.
It is a little disheartening nevertheless, as the ADV160 was Honda’s first foray into this segment of scooters in India and its on-paper specs make it ready to take on the direct rivals, the Yamaha Aerox 155 and Hero Xoom 160. Honda chose to make the ADV160 available across both BigWing and RedWing, which immediately gave its scooter an advantage in terms of availability. Both the Aerox and the Xoom have limited availability, by contrast. Yamaha only sells the Aerox out of its Blue Square dealerships, a smaller sub-network of their overall sales and service network. Hero has limited the Xoom 160 to its Premia dealerships, a different stream of dealer network limited to its premium offerings.
Honda had announced the prices and opened pre-bookings for the ADV160 and the Rebel 300 together. Currently, the Rebel 300 appears to be on track for Q3 2026 deliveries, and we hope it stays that way. At the moment, pre-bookings for the ADV160 are still open for Rs 5,000. Honda’s website says deliveries for the ADV160 will commence after the new year 2027, and we can only hope that means it will start in January.
