No early launch of Honda's new small car

The Honda's new small car in India is not going to be launched before scheduled time as Honda India today cleared the recent media reports about the early launch of its new small car in India. The company said that it has no plans of launching this small car before the schedules timing and it will be launched as planned before, by year 2011. The new small car from Honda is a premium compact car, which is a 5-door hatchback, which has been developed in Japan and will be produced at Honda's Greater Noida facility from next year. The Honda's new small car is basically an India oriented model and it will be launched in Thailand market after analyzing its performance in Indian market.

Just two days back the ‘Financial Chronicle', citing unidentified sources, has reported that Honda is mulling to launch the unchristened small car by the year-end, instead of next year and after that many news papers followed the same news in their yesterday's edition. However, when the news paper contacted to Jnaneshwar Sen, vice-president for marketing, Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI), he categorically denied any such development. Mr Sen said that the company has no such plans and it believes that 2011 will not be too late to launch the vehicle. According to him the penetration of cars in India is still low and there is a lot of space to grow.

The Honda's new small car was showcased in Delhi Auto Expo where it was centre of attraction among car enthusiasts. The company had announced that the production version of Honda's new small car will be priced below Rs 5 lakh and will be manufactured with 80% local content. It is expected that the model will be exported to other world countries including Brazil, Russia and parts of Europe.

Honda's new small car in India will be competing with some of the most popular cars in India including Maruti Wagon R and A-Star, Hyundai Santro and i10, Ford Figo, Volkswagen Polo and Fiat Punto.