[libranof1987]

Interesting read.

Wonder if there is something brewing within Honda (facelift) or there is indeed credence to this article. There are several reasons for why Mobilio hasn't been a success; and with Honda's recent statement on how it will target the premium market, the long term strategy for these "mass-market" cars is to look out for.

Japanese carmaker Honda has stopped selling its multi purpose vehicle (MPV) Mobilio in India due to poor demand and it will decide within the next two months whether to bring a new version of the model or not.

Last month it did not sell even a single unit of the MPV.

Launched in July 2014 in India, Honda had sold a total of 40,789 units of the Mobilio in the country.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...w/57428351.cms

Related read:

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/auto/st.../1/894246.html

http://www.hindustantimes.com/busine...87xUAx0yH.html

[Nilesh5417]

I don't think anyone is going to miss Mobilio much except those who already have bought it. Honda should already have launched it it in the B-RV form and avoided the poor perception that the Mobilio ended up with - overpriced with Brio like interiors, not so solid build and not much to offer as value.

[krishnakarthik1]

Good decision. Its a sad car and no one will notice its lack of presence on the road. My uncle owns one and its an excellent people's mover if you do not mind the bland interiors or the tinny body or the truck like NVH or its 'electric eel' on wheels looks.

[Chetan_Rao]

It really makes no sense to have both Mobilio and BR-V on sale, esp. since they're essentially the same car and neither sells too well. Probably better to kill one and re-position the other. A snowflake will survive hell before Honda slashes BR-V prices though

[drmohitg]

Discontinuing a model in just 2 years for a brand like Honda in the segment that has shown phenomenal growth overall goes to show how difficult it is to crack the Indian car market and fulfill the requirements of the buyers today!

It is not just the badge that will do the trick for you anymore. The product has to be good too. I somehow see Honda losing the plot over and over again. First they priced the original Jazz wrong and killed the car. Second time around they decided to offer its most advertised USP i.e. the magic seats in only the top variant and also never bothered to offer a variant with the 1.5L engine. Now they seem to be heading towards another disaster with the WR-V too by not launching it with the 1.5L engine or the AT gearbox. When will they learn?

[racer_ash]

I somehow feel this is connected to the launch of the WRV. I think Honda is looking to place WRV at the same price range as the Mobilio and so it does not want an overlap. I agree one is a lifestyle vehicle and the other a people mover but at the end of the day, it all comes down to margins and I think the WRV commands more.

[sawnilrules]

Looks like the Honda guys are smoking some wrong weed. The entire Brio platform is a disaster. They shouldn't have done the mistake of entering the mass market segment in the first place. Nevertheless having entered, they shouldn't have skimped on quality.

Secondly in the rat race to offer features, they started cutting the corners in quality on parts which are not visible to the naked eyes. Ask any third generation Honda City owner to drive the fourth generation Honda City, he will definitely will not come home impressed.

Its a good thing that the Mobilio is getting discontinued, over the period of time Honda should even discontinue the BR-V and only focus on cars above the Jazz segment, albeit with right pricing.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

I somehow feel this is connected to the launch of the WRV.

WRV is a totally different product as compared to the Mobilio.

If anything, its the BRV that had to struggle due to the positioning of the Mobilio. Remember that they had to hide the Mobilio from their showrooms during the launch of the BRV?

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Honda's recent statement on how it will target the premium market, the long term strategy for these "mass-market" cars is to look out for.

More than being mass market, it is the commercial positioning that might have caused Honda to discontinue the Brio.

With the launch of the BRV, Honda was supposed to re-position the Mobilio to aggressively target the commercial sector, and with the new change of direction to regain its premium positioning - a commercial segment vehicle might not have sounded the best idea.

http://m.overdrive.in/news/honda-to-...-with-mobilio/

BRV is everything a Mobilio is, and then some more. Good move if they discontinue the Mobilio and make a better case for the BRV, IMHO.

Originally Posted by sawnilrules

Honda should even discontinue the BR-V and only focus on cars above the Jazz segment, albeit with right pricing.

BRV has a good fighting change still.

All they need to do is to make it a better value proposition by introducing some new features from the 2017 City and WRV. Features like 6 airbags, a proper touchscreen audio, sunroof etc without a heavy increase in price. The compact crossover market is witnessing no slowdown, and the BRV has a unique identity of it's own thanks to the three row seating.

[shankar.balan]

Frankly doesn't the BRV look like a slightly "steroid loaded" version of the Mobile with some extra fiddly bits by way of black plastic cladding around and on the wheel arches and so on?

Both are enormously practical vehicles and absolutely lovely for medium sized families of maybe 4 people or 6 people and a good amount of luggage.

Sadly in India, notwithstanding their extreme practicality, these station wagon type vehicles never seem to do very well.

Though lately I ve been seeing some examples of the Datsun Go+ variants and quite a few Mobilios and BRVs running about the landscape.

[harry10]

Good riddance. In its portfolio I believe it's the worst offering with nothing exceptional to offer. Biggest mistake they made was to give the same dashboard as Brio. No one is going to miss this one.

[sawnilrules]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

BRV has a good fighting change still.

All they need to do is to make it a better value proposition by introducing some new features from the 2017 City and WRV. Features like 6 airbags, a proper touchscreen audio, sunroof etc without a heavy increase in price. The compact crossover market is witnessing no slowdown, and the BRV has a unique identity of it's own thanks to the three row seating.

I agree, but knowing how blokes at Honda are, for little features addition they charge a bomb for it. That will further hamper an already overpriced BR-V.

From a case study perspective look at the upgraded 4th gen car, from the earlier 14 lac OTR to 16.85 lac OTR for the ZX AT variant. That's too steep for the C Segment car.

They probably need to hire a the current pricing strategist and hire a sane pricing strategist to get things right.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

News has been confirmed by Honda.


Honda Mobilio has been discontinued as it doesn't conform to the upcoming safety norms in India. They are evaluating whether or not to launch the updated model, due to lower sales figures.

"There are new safety regulations coming from this year. The current Mobilio does not conform to regulations. So in order to continue to sell the vehicle we need to put in lot of investment or modification of the model," Honda Cars India President and CEO Yoichiro Ueno told PTI.

http://www.business-standard.com/art...0200441_1.html

[rbp]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

News has been confirmed by Honda.


Honda Mobilio has been discontinued as it doesn't conform to the upcoming safety norms in India. They are evaluating whether or not to launch the updated model, due to lower sales figures.

"There are new safety regulations coming from this year. The current Mobilio does not conform to regulations. So in order to continue to sell the vehicle we need to put in lot of investment or modification of the model," Honda Cars India President and CEO Yoichiro Ueno told PTI.

http://www.business-standard.com/art...0200441_1.html

Isn't BRV also built on a similar platform as the Mobilio? So shouldn't BRV also be stopped due to safety regulations?

[timuseravan]

Not a surprise really. There was 0 reason to go for Mobilio over Ertiga.
And looks like Honda has not learnt their lesson yet. They do not have a single class leading car in any of the categories they compete in be it looks, performance or pricing. I mean look at the new CRV - at that price point why should anyone buy it in place of Tuscon? With Tuscon you can get a higher variant for the same price of CRV. And today Honda does not have the image they used to have years back.

[SmartCat]

In BRV Facebook group, many have already reported seeing BRVs being used as taxis. When compared to Innova, BRV has a low starting price of Rs. 10 Lacs for diesel (yellow plate), before discounts.

Very surprised by safety regulations comment on Mobilio by Honda India CEO.

As per the Indian government's roadmap for vehicular safety, new models will have to comply with full frontal impact and offset frontal impact from October this year. Existing models will have time till October 1, 2019. For pedestrian protection, the deadline for new models would kick in from October 2018 and for existing models the deadline is October 1, 2020

Existing models have time till late 2019 - that's 3 years of sales. I think stopping Mobilio is just about rationalization of model line-up. BRV is likely to cater to taxi segment too (likely to have higher margins than Mobilio).

Originally Posted by rbp

Isn't BRV also built on a similar platform as the Mobilio? So shouldn't BRV also be stopped due to safety regulations?

I don't think BRV (or any other brand car under Rs. 15 Lacs) would pass the offset frontal impact test. An offset test concentrates the entire impact force on a small area of the chassis. But since BRV is selling at 1500 per month on an average, Honda will probably reinforce the chassis to pass the offset test.