Honda to Focus on Semi-urban and Smaller Markets

Honda Cars India has recently launched its first ever diesel car "Amaze" in India, which comes equipped with company's newly formed made-for-India 1.5L i-DTEC diesel engine under the hood. The car already bagged thousands of advanced bookings and the waiting period for the car has gone up by 4-5 months. The company has never seen such a footfall ever for any of its cars in India, thanks to the right pricing and not to forgot amazing fuel economy and power. The Japanese automaker has been facing a production constraint problem, and aims to sell around only 50,000 units of Amaze this year. However, the demand is way higher than the production capacity. 

Honda Cars India is also planning to increase its proceedings in rural and smaller regions, which is growing at faster pace. The company is improving its dealerships across smaller cities to reach maximum buyers. Honda Cars India had invested Rs. 25000 crore in its Tapukara plant in Rajasthan to start a new production facility. The new facility will roll out its first car by the mid of 2014. For now, the new Amaze is manufactured at the Greater Noida plant. The car would be available in tier II and smaller towns too besides the big cities, as Honda's strategy to tap the rural and smaller markets of India. Jnaneshwar Sen, Senior Vice President, Honda Cars India said that they expect to derive 60 per cent of their sales of Amaze from the smaller cities.

Sen said that with Amaze diesel, the company hopes to cater to the increasing demand for diesel cars in India. The new Honda Amaze is launched in both diesel and petrol engines. The new Honda Amaze sedan launched by the company, comes with both petrol and diesel engines. "This is our first diesel offering in India. Earlier, we were at a disadvantage due to no diesel model in our portfolio of cars. With increasing preference for diesel vehicles in India, we were missing out on a crucial segment of buyers. With an internationally developed diesel engine, Honda is now geared up to cater to this segment" He added.

Earlier, Honda had promised to launch five new products with diesel engines in the next three years, Honda Amaze was the first. The company is aiming to launch 2014 Honda Jazz, New City sedan, Jazz based MUV and the Jazz based SUV. Speculations was also on rife that Honda might soon launch the Brio diesel in India. However, the company denied the possibility of any diesel model of Brio in near future. The 2014 Honda Jazz is already in production and is likely to be put on display at the 2013 Tokyo Auto Show.
 

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