[DrPriyankT]

In view of the launch of the VW Polo TSI, Honda should launch a souped up variant of the Jazz in 2014 when they launch the next gen Jazz. It should have a stiffened suspension, a talkative steering,nice meaty alloys,a proper 6 speed manual,a 1.5L engine from the city instead of the usual 1.2L in the Jazz. The car should be loaded with all safety kit like ABS, 6 airbags and ESP. If priced around 9.5-10 lakhs OTR ex-Mumbai,it can provide some competition to the Polo in our nascent warm hatch segment.

[coolmel]

They should go all out, give it a better suspension, bigger engine and the works. They even have a diesel now. Hope they have realised why the predecessor failed and must be ready to cover up. Wait and watch period.

[RavenAvi]

Business Standard spent an afternoon lunch interviewing Mr. Hironori Kanayama, President of Honda Cars India.

Excerpts :-

Honda's new-found single status has clearly helped. With small car Brio in its fold, Honda outgrew European car maker Volkswagen to sell 73,483 units in the last financial year. The company recently launched its first diesel model, the Amaze, in the Indian market. Production is full steam ahead at the facility in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh and Rs 2,500 crore is being invested in a diesel engine unit, a second car assembly line for 120,000 units and a forging plant in Tapukara, Rajasthan. Till September this fiscal, Honda's sales grew 68 per cent to 59,617 units - at a time when the domestic automobile market shrank five per cent.

Unlike many business heads , Kanayama is surprisingly optimistic about the latent potential of the Indian market and predicts that a turnaround is imminent. "We are working to the maximum extent and, of course, we hope for recovery at the earliest. The rupee has picked up. I hope the Indian economy will pick up as we have a new RBI governor," he says thoughtfully.

But what made Honda wait so long before striking out in the Indian market, we ask. Kanayama laughs. He gets the same question from his associates, he tells us. "It's only in India and in Europe that we see diesel demand. America, Japan, China and Latin America have only 1 to 2 per cent sales in diesel, so, we prioritised those advanced markets." Also, he points out, although the decision to enter the diesel car market was made much earlier, it takes time to develop a brand new engine. "Honda takes pride in making its own engines," he is at pains to point out.

Where does he see Honda among established players such as Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai? Kanayama skirts the question cleverly. "Our target is always our customer, products must be competitive and being competitive means ensuring the customer likes our cars."

Full interview and details - http://www.business-standard.com/art...1801013_1.html

[RavenAvi]

Honda Cars India will now start it's R&D work on a made-in-India small car, double it's production capacity to 3 lakh cars per annum, and will target Maruti Suzuki's market share by next year end, reports ET.

Going full throttle in a slowing Indian car market, Honda Motor Company plans to launch three vehicles including an MPV within a year and is even looking at the possibility of building a car in India for the country by beefing up its local R&D team.

The Japanese carmaker will launch the fourth-generation Honda City next week, to be followed by a new Jazz hatchback and Mobilio, a multi-purpose vehicle that will take on Maruti's Ertiga, over the next 12 months.

The made-in-India car - a small car to be built by the Indian R&D team - is, however, some time away, Honda executives said. That is because a car for Indian roads with local pricing will have to be developed from scratch, they said.

In an interaction with Indian media at the Tokyo Motor Show, Yoshiyuki Matsumoto, Honda's managing officer for Asia and Oceania regions, said, "Please keep your expectations high."

Matsumoto is responsible for development, purchasing and production for the region. "I spend most of my time in India," he said and added that there is a demand for a vehicle with three rows of seats with the right pricing.

After the proposed three launches, Honda will compete with market leader Maruti-Suzuki in at least 50% of the Indian car market.

There is also speculation that Vezel, Honda's latest SUV, is billed to take on Renault's Duster in India by 2015. But no Honda official confirmed this, only stating that studies are going on.

The carmaker is one of the few auto majors bullish about India and has increased market share in the country, which has slowed down considerably.

"I understand, I am in India for that reason," Matsumoto said, when quizzed about Honda's ambitious plans, which will see the company double its capacity to 300,000 cars in the country by expanding its plant in Uttar Pradesh and building a plant in Rajasthan.

Honda expects to sell over 6 lakh vehicles in Asia Oceania this fiscal, with India contributing 1.2 lakh units. It targets to double Asia Oceania sales by fiscal 2017 with India accounting for one-fourth, or about 3 lakh cars, from two manufacturing units.

Full Article - http://articles.economictimes.indiat...-market-ertiga

[RavenAvi]

Honda Cars India will inaugurate it's Tapukara plant next month, and shift production of the Brio and the Amaze to that newly opened factory, as per the Economic Times. This new plant is expected to double Honda's annual production numbers to 2,40,000 units from this year onwards.

The Mobilio, Honda's Brio-based MUV, is also expected to join the production lines at the new Rajasthan factory by mid-2014. An all-new compact SUV will also be produced there by the beginning of next year, as per sources.

Honda will be investing around 2,500 crores in the new plant to build a new assembly line for cars, a diesel engine component production line and a forging unit. Honda's existing plant at Greater Noida will roll out models like the City, the next generation Accord and also the Brio.

SOURCE - http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/28529357.cms

[RavenAvi]

The Brio Diesel & made-in-India small car (sub-Brio) project have been shelved. Instead, Honda Cars India will be concentrating on increasing/expanding dealer network in coming years, according to Hironori Kanayama, president & CEO of Honda Cars India, in an interview to the Economic Times.

"Our entry model will be Brio and Amaze; we don't have plans for a smaller car like Wagon R or Alto. We have no plans to make Brio Diesel too. What we will do is, expand dealer network in the coming years, especially tier-II and tier-III cities, given the fact that Maruti Suzuki has over 1,300 dealerships, which is several times ours; thus we have a huge room to grow through new dealerships."

"Market share is not our target, it means nothing to us. All we have to do is target segment number 1, in whatever segment we are, so there is a lot of improvement for growth."

"We will, however, not sacrifice quality of product and services. Certain things can be expedited. For instance, the Tapukara plant (in Rajasthan) production schedule has been advanced by a few months. It was supposed to start operation in FY15, but we will do it this financial year itself. This will enable us to deliver cars quickly."

"We've had some expectations in the past, but never made correct forecast. All we can do is to get prepared for the (demand-supply) gap that could arise in the future. In the case of Amaze, demand was more than our expectation, that's why we immediately started preparing for the third shift. It worked well. Therefore, to take quickest action, is to fill the gap between the forecast and result. That is the key."

"We have to further accelerate the speed of growth. Just launching a new model is not enough. Customer satisfaction is more important. Our aim is to be the most trusted company in India, and to this end our products should not only be good quality, but we should offer excellent service too."

This means they will be focusing solely on the 5 lakh - 10 lakh segment, with the Brio, Amaze, Mobilio, Brio-based SUV, Jazz, and the City in the near future.

Full interview - http://auto.economictimes.indiatimes...india/28731592

[pdma]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

The Brio Diesel & made-in-India small car (sub-Brio) project have been shelved.

Hey Avi,

Our fellow BHP-ians caught a Brio diesel being tested recently, however this statement from Honda is contradictory.
I only can think of one possibility to end this contrast, may be Honda is testing a new specification in its IDTEC for its upcoming Jazz by placing it under the Brio hood.
Yes I know the next question Why cant they do it in the Jazz itself ?.
Iam not sure of the answer .

This is just my speculation.

cheers,
pdma.

[GrammarNazi]

I don't think the chassis of Brio can support the iDtec reliably. The vibrations would be quite disturbing. And think about it, tiny light hatches like Brio with SO much power on tap would be flying around, handling too would be quite scary.

IMO Honda will only concentrate on using the iDtec in its current iteration (with FGT in the 100PS state of tune) in maximum number of cars possible, including the upcoming Jazz & Mobilio.

Then comes Honda's entry level SUV in 2016-17. After recovering some investments from the iDtec, only then they'd go with a VGT, tuned to make it produce 120PS. Making it the FIRST Indian SUV to deliver 25kmpl.

EDIT : And the CR-V maybe with a 2.0L iDtec.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

I don't think the chassis of Brio can support the iDtec reliably. The vibrations would be quite disturbing. And think about it, tiny light hatches like Brio with SO much power on tap would be flying around, handling too would be quite scary.

EDIT : And the CR-V maybe with a 2.0L iDtec.

Honda does know how to make cars but the only problem I see is skinny tyres they provide and Honda's attachment with 175 section tyres.

They will stiffen the chassis at the necessary points to meet up with the i-DTEC's Torque and moreover the Brio will be rated between 65-75PS and the motor will be detuned and brought down for excise benefits.

Anurag.

[satyaanveshi]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

They will stiffen the chassis at the necessary points to meet up with the i-DTEC's Torque and moreover the Brio will be rated between 65-75PS and the motor will be detuned and brought down for excise benefits.

There aren't any excise benefits to be gained. The i-DTEC is just below 1.5l and for a sub-4m car already attracts the lowest excise level of 12%. Downsizing from 1.5l to 1.2l is relevant only for petrol cars, not for diesel.

[GrammarNazi]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

Honda does know how to make cars but the only problem I see is skinny tyres they provide and Honda's attachment with 175 section tyres...

They know how to make cars and how! IIRC recently they even released a statement that world-over 3 out of 4 Honda cars are still functional.

They will stiffen the chassis at the necessary points to meet up with the i-DTEC's Torque and moreover the Brio will be rated between 65-75PS and the motor will be detuned and brought down for excise benefits...

Stiffening the chassis, developing another particular engine tune. True its possible, BUT thats comparatively quite some work in terms of development.

IMO when they already have platforms of Jazz & Mobilio ready to use the current iDtec, why'd they concentrate on a product with lower returns and all that work. And theres no excise benefit since the iDtec is already technically <1.5 (1,498cc).

Sry if I sound harsh to some, but IMO, as of now the "Diesel Brio" is kindof wishful thinking.

[CARDEEP]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

I don't think the chassis of Brio can support the iDtec reliably. The vibrations would be quite disturbing. And think about it, tiny light hatches like Brio with SO much power on tap would be flying around, handling too would be quite scary.

IMO Honda will only concentrate on using the iDtec in its current iteration (with FGT in the 100PS state of tune) in maximum number of cars possible, including the upcoming Jazz & Mobilio.

Then comes Honda's entry level SUV in 2016-17. After recovering some investments from the iDtec, only then they'd go with a VGT, tuned to make it produce 120PS. Making it the FIRST Indian SUV to deliver 25kmpl.

EDIT : And the CR-V maybe with a 2.0L iDtec.

Hi GrammarNazi

IMO this (no Diesel Engine in Brio) has nothing to do with the NVH of the 1.5 iDtec, lest they would noy have plonked the same in Amaze (which is based on Brio), & also planned the mini SUV based on Brio with a Diesel heart. I feel it has more to do with Jazz's positioning in market when it is launched... at least in-house competition to Jazz won't be there, if there is no Brio Diesel.

Re CR-V Deisel, is now available in UK with 1.6L Diesel mill, earlier it was available with 2.2L Diesel. Please provide more details on the 2L iDtec as most on the forum won't have knowledge about the same.

Thanks in advance

[RavenAvi]

Honda Cars India is planning to introduce a new SUV in the sub-20 lakh segment, expand dealership network, and focus on Indian sales to meet it's 2016-17 sales target, says Hironori Kanayama, President and CEO of Honda in an interview with TOI.

"Honda has grown and its global sales for the last financial year for the first time reached the four million mark. For the 2016-17, the target is six million and most of the increase is going to come from emerging markets such as India. That means we need to penetrate more and we need more cars to meet the market demand.
In India, we did not have a diesel engine car and to expand the market we introduced Amaze and we are going to have more cars in the next financial year, which will include an MUV and the new Jazz.
The second element of the strategy is the focus on the increasing local content because of the difficulty that we faced because of the falling rupee. Amaze was built with 90% local content and City has 92%. Third, we are also focusing on the smaller towns and cities. By March, the target is to have 150 dealerships with 20 in newer cities. By March 2014, we hope to have 170 dealers in 110 cities, compared to 102 cities earlier. We don't have dealers in tier-II and tier-III cities and there are many customers waiting for Honda to come.
We will look at an SUV as well as other models so that there are many more choices. We are thinking of an SUV, which we hope is very soon, may be one-two years. We already have CR-V, therefore, we want it in sub-Rs 20 lakh segment, although we haven't really identified the segment."

Full interview - http://auto.economictimes.indiatimes...-boss/29491410

[wilful]

Good news for Honda fans in India. They have jumped to the 4th position in sales in January 2014, up 2 places. They have clocked sales of 15714 in January.

Link to the report -
http://www.zigwheels.com/news-featur...r-sales/17877/

[coolkurt]

Now all I hope is that they get the Civic back in a year or two. The best car I've ever had, 7 years and counting. Any hints on that?