Honda has
never been so serious in Indian markets. The tragedies in Japan and Thailand
prompted the Japanese motorcycle to car manufacturer ‘Honda Motor Corporation’
to focus more on the developing markets to break even volumes and thus profits.
Honda first
entered India in 1998 with a sole mode ‘City’ sedan. The City since then almost
ruled the segment in spite of being priced high, just because of the sheer
pleasure it give to its customers. In fact the ‘City’ lost its dominance
recently to the new entrants Volkswagen Vento and Hyundai Verna. It was not due
to the better quality and value for money of the new enterants, but just for
the lack of a diesel option.
Honda has
developed a 1.6 L diesel (i-DTEC) which will power the ‘City’ sedan and
hopefully the Civic as well. Though the engine and its technology is the first
from Honda in the segment, the strong heritage of quality products of Honda
assures us to have a wonderful diesel engine which could surpass its
competitors in most of the parameters. A smaller 1.2 L diesel is also under
development to propel Jazz and Brio to be launched early next year. The diesel
Brio has already been spied testing in Noida, which means the Brio diesel will
come sooner than expected.
With range
of diesel vehicles in the Honda’s portfolio, the company aims to sell over 1
million units in India by the next 4 to 5 years. To attain this Honda has to
sell over a lakh of vehicles per year which is possible only when it prices its
vehicles cheaper than its competitors. Also Honda has to bring more range of
cars in different segments to get the volumes going. The launch of Brio petrol
with a price tag of Rs. 3.95 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi) and re pricing of
Jazz petrol is a classical example which has made Honda to rethink about its
strategies in India.
We at
AutomobilePlanet.com have faith that Honda has all the capabilities to be
another Suzuki Motor Company in India. With Honda’s brilliant technology, futuristic
design, strong quality maintenance, environmental awareness and the zeel to
make a better automobile, we Indians will have a wonderful time motoring in the
coming days. We would also like to see Honda Freed, Honda Concept S and Honda
Odyssey plying on our roads.
