Honda India : The Way Forward

[R2D2]

Sales of 30,000 units PA for a D1 segment car in India? I almost choked on my sandwich, turned red and laughed loudly. And now chuckling as I type. These guys are consuming some strange substance.

Over confidence and hype. This is PRECISELY what causes Honda SIEL grief in this market.

[amtak]

Originally Posted by YashD

One thing I have seen in Honda over the years, no discounts! Push them a little and get a discount of around 10-20k but officially, they hardly have discounts be it any vehicle! Ask them about City and the kind of faces these folks makes as if you are asking the car for free. The manufacturer needs to understand now that they have lost their so called premium car maker tag now. It's high time they need to get back on the ground.

Ask me about it. I was looking for an automatic hatch for my wife and Jazz was my first option. I was told to book the vehicle without even driving it, no eagerness to bring the vehicle to my office, I have to run around to the showroom, for a test drive! Heck, even Aston guys bring cars to potential customers

I eventually bought a Ford Figo DCT with good offers ensuring,the home ministry is happy

[avdhesh15]

Bad, bad news for Honda in terms of May sales. In top 7 while everyone has grown compared to last year, Honda has dropped 25%! I for one don't see any major change in future with current strategy. Bread and butter CITY has also lost out big-time to CIAZ (3305 vs 5188 units).

Source: Auto Punditz

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by nik_kapur

the Jazz was spotted i believe.

Jazz was only spotted at the plant while being prepared for South African market exports. The last Honda car to be have been caught testing in India was the third generation City and the Brio diesel.

Infact, this point was mentioned by GTO in the official review of the 4th generation City that it can be safely assumed that the model was not tested on Indian roads.

[libranof1987]

I was at a Honda dealer to get my City serviced and the situation is very dire; the SA said sales are *very* slow and there isn't a lot of enthusiasm in their offerings. The BRV isn't exactly a hit, a prominent dealer in Gurgaon has only sold about four as yet.


The SA said they are anxiously waiting for the Civic and Accord now.

[RavenAvi]

Honda Cars India recently opened it's 300th dealership in India, in the form of Perfect Honda in Kochi, Kerala.

Located at Aryabhangy Grande, Muttam in Thaikattukara, Kochi, this ultra-modern Honda dealership is equipped with a state-of-the-art service workshop with facilities for body and paint-related repairs, wheel alignment, wheel balancing, spare parts and other services.

The showroom was inaugurated by Mr Yoichiro Ueno, president and CEO, Honda Cars India, who also spoke on the occasion:

“We are delighted to reach the milestone of 300 dealers in India. Network expansion is a critical part of enhancing the customer experience. For a company to grow, it is essential that the touch-points for consumers increase.

The dealerships are the most significant and important touch-points. In order to realise the potential of the market by moving closer to our customers, we are not only ensuring access to our customers but also providing them with best-in-class services across all our dealerships.

Kerala has always been a very important market for Honda Cars India. The state contributes about 9% to our all-India sales and with the opening of Perfect Honda, we now have a strong network of 20 outlets in the state.”

Honda Cars India has been on an aggressive dealership expansion reach in recent times, by opening 100 new dealerships in the past 20-odd months.

Autocar Professional

[pixantz]

All the more fun and peace of mind for Honda fans out there, hopefully.

[pixantz]

Originally Posted by YashD

One thing I have seen in Honda over the years, no discounts! The manufacturer needs to understand now that they have lost their so called premium car maker tag now.

Thats a fact and only Honda knows as to why they can't offer their"premiumness" and great quality as they did until recently and do it while matching upto market price points too. Most other manufacturers have done it.

Honda had this tag of a "premium car maker" as we call it until the 2014 City. At this point, they decided apparently, that all that "premiumness" is not helping their sales target in any way. Although Honda had its priorities right and offered the best safety features at the price points(they still do) along with best driving dynamics, reliability, efficiency and fun to drive nature, apparently the Indian car buyers priorities didn't seem to match and he went after cheaper products with better looking interiors with a ton of "creature comforts" and pampering stuff. Honda realised that for the Indian buyer, having a reverse camera, a Bluetooth stereo, a mushy suspension, a rear aircon vent and a video-game-like steering was more important than two airbags and great safety ratings!

So the poor guys gave us all that "stuff" along with a 5-star safey rating but lost that "premiumness" in the bargain . It did great for their sales though. Now if we look at it from their perspective, it's a very fine line which toggles between Honda and Buyer perspective of a good "premium" car. Which way should they go?

[Aaron:)]

Originally Posted by pixantz

So the poor guys gave us all that "stuff" along with a 5-star safey rating but lost that "premiumness" in the bargain . It did great for their sales though. Now if we look at it from their perspective, it's a very fine line which toggles between Honda and Buyer perspective of a good "premium" car. Which way should they go?

It might have done well for their sales earlier, but off late even that advantage is getting lost. They're stuck in no man's land. Neither premium nor mass market.

The Jazz is doing nowhere as well it deserves to do. It's a great car but Honda screwed up the variants, features and price. The Amaze is slowly losing out to the Xcent, and the City is under threat from the Ciaz. The Mobilio which sold very well in its initial months, is now a dud, and so is the Brio.

Hondas are already priced at a premium. There should be no problem in providing proper 'Honda' quality, along with a good equipment list at the current prices.

I'm eagerly waiting for cars like the HR-V, Civic, Accord and next gen CR-V.

[achu411]

Originally Posted by pixantz

Thats a fact and only Honda knows as to why they can't offer their"premiumness" and great quality as they did until recently and do it while matching upto market price points too.
====== It did great for their sales though. Now if we look at it from their perspective, it's a very fine line which toggles between Honda and Buyer perspective of a good "premium" car. Which way should they go?

Honda was providing 2 airbags and safety features when the other manufacturers like Suzuki and Hyundai were not. Now they have started venturing into premium segments as well and started providing more safety considering the upcoming regulations. Baleno base variant for example has pretensioner seat belts for both the driver and passenger whereas the Jazz VX Diesel top-end provides it only for the driver (If you read through the Jazz thread you can find out). So they are lagging behind in providing safety features as well as nice-to have features (Bluetooth, nice-to-use HU, Keyless entry and go). The fact is customers have become more aware these days and will go for a Suzuki or Hyundai if they can offer more value for less money than coming to a costly "H" who are very stingy in offering even safety features.

I would rather go for Ciaz than City because both of them offer only 2 airbags and ciaz is much cheaper than city with more features. After all, majority of our drive is within city and we don't get to use 120BHP in suffocating traffic. Please note that these are just my views.

[volkman10]

Faced with high inventory, declining volumes and sudden shift in buyer demand from diesel to petrol variants, Honda India thinks it has plans for revival, bets on the next 3 launches!

1.Honda India plans to launch hybrid version of the Accord sedan
2. The Global Civic
3. Mini/Compact /SUV ( WR-V?)

Reasons for declining sales,


http://auto.economictimes.indiatimes...round/53882417

[Durango Dude]

Honda at one time prided it self on the quality of it's business than quantity! Honda needs to spruce up it's products, interiors, price their products competitively, do away with their skinny tyres and get off it's high horse! Honda's foray into the diesel segment hasn't exactly been a success (NVH problems and lack of automatic) and they took their own sweet time in bringing out the diesel, as fate would have it slowly but surely there is a move away from diesels towards petrol in the market.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by pixantz

Honda realised that for the Indian buyer, having a reverse camera, a Bluetooth stereo, a mushy suspension, a rear aircon vent and a video-game-like steering was more important than two airbags and great safety ratings!

So the poor guys gave us all that "stuff" along with a 5-star safey rating but lost that "premiumness" in the bargain . It did great for their sales though. Now if we look at it from their perspective, it's a very fine line which toggles between Honda and Buyer perspective of a good "premium" car. Which way should they go?

Quite a theory! However -

1. Kindly explain with any factual evidence how Honda had better safety than the 'loaded cars'? We don't have safety ratings for most cars from either brands and it is the Hyundai that offered dual disk brakes, 4 airbags etc in their cars. Honda still hasn't even made airbags and ABS standard on all of their cars!

2. Honda cars are priced on top of each segments. So please explain why there should be a trade-off between quality and features when others seem to strike a balance between both. There is high level of localisation now, so import costs doesn't affect either.

3. Where did this 5- star safety rating come from? Is this recent news? I seem to have missed it completely. Unless of course, you are talking about international variants. As per my understanding, three of their Indian cars will only qualify for zero star since base variants are without airbags, and two will qualify for a maximum of four stars since ESP is missing.

[Aaron:)]

It's great that Honda is launching the Civic here, but it can only add 400-500 units to their monthly sales.

They should get the HR-V here. If thr intorductory prices are near the Creta, it has every reason to be a sales champion.

[avisidhu]

I've mentioned this elsewhere earlier, but its not just with the 4th Gen City that Honda starting compromising with the quality. Check the initial iterations of the 3rd Gen and compare to anything post 2011, the difference is perceptible.

Since the past 4 years or so we've had all Hondas in the family, two of them 3rd gen City and one Brio. As a mechanical package they were good enough so I never felt shortchanged even after experiencing better equipped models in their segments. No rattles, good FE and complete peace of mind have ensured no one else in family too has any grouse with them.

But in the past 2 years, it's just been downhill (personally speaking). Sat in the new City and didn't like it. Went to the showroom to exchange FIL's City for the BRV, but came away unimpressed with not just the BRV but pretty much the entire product range except the Jazz. So finally we have the first non Honda in the extended family(Crysta).

Managed to replace one City with the Civic and I could see what great products this company gave us in the past. I don't even bother about the extra features, the sheer driver involvement and peace of mind (hopefully) makes it a worthy upgrade. It was probably the last great Honda product we had. I'm just praying they not just bring the likes of Civic back, but go back to the philosophy that made Honda such a respectable name in the minds of enthusiasts and their families alike.