New HONDA Dunk, The scooter is aimed at a younger demographic, as young as high school boys.

Honda Unveils Dunk Scooter Concept

At this year’s Tokyo Motor Show, Honda will give the world premier of their new 50cc scooter, the Honda Dunk. Koji Miwa, lead researcher at Honda Technical Research Institute and given the position of 2 wheel project leader has said, “The scooter is aimed at a younger demographic, as young as high school boys.”

It marks 12 years since Honda last released a 50cc scooter - with everything from the engine to the body newly developed by Honda - into the Japanese market.

At the product launch for the new Dunk that took place on February 3, Masaharu Iuchi, President of Honda Motorcycle Japan (HMJ), commented, "There has been a continued drop in demand from young people, and in order to curtail that we've announced this model as a no-frills commuter vehicle. We displayed a concept model at last year's Tokyo Motor Show, which received a great reaction from a lot of customers. We wanted to create something that would satisfy a wide range of customers, with young people in particular as the focus."

The 'Category 1' market of low-powered scooters - under which the Dunk is categorised - has shrunk to a twelfth of the size from its peak, and 2013 saw a drop in results from the previous year for the second year in a row. "Category 1 scooters are limited to 30km/h under regulation, as is the weight that they can carry, and because of such hard-to-categorise restrictions, it's a reality that they have become unsuitable for urban environments where cars are now the main constituent", said Iuchi. "Scooters could flourish in areas where there's not much public transport, or where light motor vehicles are essential for commuting to work and school, or for those who work in collection and delivery with newspapers, mail and so on."

In addition, Iuchi commented, "We want to increase the population of motorcycle users in the future, by making sure that those currently riding motorcycles continue to do so for a long time, as well as increasing the number of new customers. In order to accomplish that, we want to create an environment in which people have an interest in bikes from a young age, and through that interest, start using motorcycles - this is something that we are considering very seriously."

"The Dunk is a model that we believe should be an appealing alternative to customers who currently value energy conservation and performance", he added.

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