Team-BHP > The Indian Car Scene


Reply
  Search this Thread
8,876 views
Old 9th April 2013, 11:52   #16
BANNED
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Gurugram
Posts: 7,969
Thanked: 4,786 Times
re: *Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?

Agree @drmohitg. Why not the sub-A segment to challenge the Nano?
sgiitk is offline  
Old 9th April 2013, 11:54   #17
Senior - BHPian
 
9thsphinx's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Ahmedabad
Posts: 1,118
Thanked: 542 Times
re: *Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?

If Honda can develop an "all new" diesel engine specially catering to the Indian markets, I'm sure it wouldn't take them long to develop another "all new" sub-1000cc engine for their new A segment car.

What I am concerned about, however, is the equipment level for their new car. Honda has always given sub-par equipment levels on all their cars and one can only wonder what will be given or not given in their future offerings!
9thsphinx is offline  
Old 9th April 2013, 12:48   #18
Newbie
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 9
Thanked: 5 Times
re: *Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?

Hello Friends,

My first post in 3 years of membership!

Coming to the topic, there is a category in Japan called as Kei cars or simply K cars which is essentially a Japanese category of small cars with engine capacity limited to 660cc. Given their ultra small size (L=3.4m, B=1.48, H=2m), these cars are quite convenient to drivein crowded cities and makes a lot of sense for a market like India.

Well Honda does have a offering called as N Box featuring a 660cc/63BHP engine which is almost at par with entry B segment cars available in India. In my opinion, this could be a very good move by Honda if they plan to launch these cars in India.

You can get more info about this here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_car
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/...ew-honda-n-box

Cheers
Nalin
nalinsaxena23 is offline  
Old 9th April 2013, 16:32   #19
Senior - BHPian
 
zenren's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: CLT/TVM/HYD
Posts: 2,570
Thanked: 1,751 Times
re: *Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?

Quote:
Originally Posted by nalinsaxena23 View Post
Coming to the topic, there is a category in Japan called as Kei cars or simply K cars which is essentially a Japanese category of small cars with engine capacity limited to 660cc. Given their ultra small size (L=3.4m, B=1.48, H=2m), these cars are quite convenient to drivein crowded cities and makes a lot of sense for a market like India.

Well Honda does have a offering called as N Box featuring a 660cc/63BHP engine which is almost at par with entry B segment cars available in India. In my opinion, this could be a very good move by Honda if they plan to launch these cars in India.
Nice to see one more BHPian turning from spectator to contributor!

Kei cars are nothing new in India as most A and B segment cars from Suzuki here are actually Kei cars in Japan. Wagon R, Estilo, Alto, AStar, Zen, 800 etc are all current or previous generation Kei cars in Japan. In fact, Wagon R is the best selling Kei car for the last 10 years running.

Suzuki found it more cost effective to introduce these cars in India with a higher capacity engine instead of bringing the turbocharged 2-cyl engine of the Kei cars.

Same would apply to Honda as well. If they want to compete in the cost sensitive A/B segments, they cannot have turbocharged engines as it would escalate the costs. This makes a higher capacity non-turbocharged engine (most likely a 3-cylinder version of the current 1.2L engine) inevitable though they can use the same Kei car frame if the engine bay can accommodate the bigger engine.
zenren is offline  
Old 9th April 2013, 16:55   #20
BHPian
 
Baddychat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Noida
Posts: 428
Thanked: 278 Times
re: *Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?

Quote:
Originally Posted by drmohitg View Post
I think Honda should first consolidate its position in the B and C segment and beyond. The entry level Hatch segment is a volumes market and given the current production capacity of Honda, it would not be a great idea to jump into it. Also the profit per car is way less in the entry level segments. They should first ensure the availability of a diesel heart for each of there current offerings and recapture the lost market share rather than launching new cars.
Absolutely agree with you drmohitg on this. Their current production capacity is 10k units/monts which translates to 120k per year. They have announced that would be doubling their capacity soon which I think would be used up by the Brio/Amaze/City demand. If and when they plonk a diesel heart into the City and Brio they would find it difficult to meet demands even with their doubled capacity. Along with that they would need to increase their dealer footprint across the country, moving to tier II cities and the likes because that would be crucial for them to regain lost market share.
IMHO for an Amaze to clock 5k-6k units per months on a consistent basis they would need to need to increase their dealer network by atleast 50% over the next 24 months.

Quote:
Originally Posted by nalinsaxena23 View Post
Hello Friends,

My first post in 3 years of membership!

Coming to the topic, there is a category in Japan called as Kei cars or simply K cars which is essentially a Japanese category of small cars with engine capacity limited to 660cc. Given their ultra small size (L=3.4m, B=1.48, H=2m), these cars are quite convenient to drivein crowded cities and makes a lot of sense for a market like India.

Well Honda does have a offering called as N Box featuring a 660cc/63BHP engine which is almost at par with entry B segment cars available in India. In my opinion, this could be a very good move by Honda if they plan to launch these cars in India.

You can get more info about this here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_car
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/...ew-honda-n-box

Cheers
Nalin
Thanks Nalin. I was about to type Kei cars on the address bar of my browser when I saw that you already shared the Wiki link.
Baddychat is offline  
Old 9th April 2013, 17:17   #21
Senior - BHPian
 
rajeev k's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Emerging Metro
Posts: 3,351
Thanked: 1,945 Times
re: *Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?

Honda has many Kie cars (micro cars with 660 cc engines) which if brought to India can create a new segment and reap benefits. Take a look at these pics.
Some old and a new cutie.
Link: http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/2012...3-honda-n-one/
Attached Thumbnails
*Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?-honda001.jpg  

*Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?-honda-202.jpg  

*Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?-h1.jpg  

*Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?-h2.jpg  

*Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?-h3.jpg  

*Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?-h4.jpg  

*Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?-h5.jpg  

rajeev k is offline   (2) Thanks
Old 9th April 2013, 18:56   #22
BHPian
 
Loud's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: New Delhi
Posts: 214
Thanked: 168 Times
re: *Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?

@rajeev k: I never knew honda had 660cc engines. Thanks for sharing this information!
BTW The above car looks better as compared to the competition. People don't like Alto because of dated design and Eon because of too much curves! This Honda seems better in terms of interior space but exteriors are a big No-No!
The above cutie is an AT, right?
Loud is offline  
Old 10th April 2013, 13:55   #23
BHPian
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 43
Thanked: 10 Times
Re: *Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?

Doubt Honda could make an A-segment car profitably. In which case they will not launch it at all. There has been a lot of talk of A-segment cars from international car organisations but only Maruti and Hyundai (and Nissan now) can do it.
santosh911 is offline  
Old 10th April 2013, 14:06   #24
BANNED
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Gurugram
Posts: 7,969
Thanked: 4,786 Times
Re: *Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?

@baddychat; With the very compact engine bay they will have to enlarge it in the Brio, City and Civic in order to accommodate the Diesel power plant.
sgiitk is offline  
Old 10th April 2013, 14:36   #25
ACM
Distinguished - BHPian
 
ACM's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 4,745
Thanked: 4,358 Times
Re: *Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?

Globally if we are position the brands from Japan it would presently be roughtly in the order:

Toyota > Nissan > Honda > Suzuki > Mitsubishi

The pricing would also tend to be in a similar order accept in the case of Mitsubishi which is going more and more niche.

So Honda is a good fit for a really small A segment car to take on Suzuki.

We have seen with the Etios and Liva that Toyota too can adapt to Indian pricing (but wished the quality of materials had been a bit better).

Guess this is all forward talk and nothing will really happen prior to 2015 start by when they will increase their manufacturing capacity in India, till then Honda can continue to "Amaze" us.
ACM is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 10th April 2013, 18:16   #26
Senior - BHPian
 
avira_tk's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,326
Thanked: 2,965 Times
Re: *Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?

The interior is certainly better in the K car than some of the more "premium" offerings we have in higher segments. Honda will have to bring a previous generation car to make it competitive, that shouldn't be a problem as Maruti considers every sticker/headlight job to be a new generation. Question is whether Honda has a good engine for this category the 1.2L is a bit too big and expensive for the segment.
avira_tk is offline  
Old 10th April 2013, 19:38   #27
Distinguished - BHPian
 
Samba's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Kolkata
Posts: 2,172
Thanked: 25,378 Times
Re: *Rumour* : Honda to enter A segment: Bring rivals to Alto, Eon?

Honda is definitely capable of bringing a car to challenge the Maruti Alto or the Hyundai Eon. But the thing is Alto sells more than 25,000 units per month where as Honda's total production capacity is 10,000 units as of now. With the release of Amaze Honda will definitely feel the heat. So if Honda plans to bring up a car in the Alto or Eon category they must increase there production atleast upto 20,000 units per month. But as its speculated to come by 2015 by then Honda may turn the scenario with their Amaze!
Samba is offline  
Old 1st September 2013, 11:59   #28
BHPian
 
ahmad.007's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Lucknow
Posts: 230
Thanked: 84 Times

Hope/Feel Honda should bring in one of their 800-1000 cc i-DSI engine with this A segment, rather than the i-vtec. Dismal low end torque you see.
Though i-vtec fan all the way.
ahmad.007 is offline  
Reply

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks