[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by sidindica

Is mud flaps really a thing to advertise?

Yes, by HONDA standard.

If they reduce the price by another 25-50K sales may cross 1K units.

[chncar]

Honda launches Jazz X

Amid sagging sales of its premium hatchback, Jazz, Honda Siel Cars India today launched a new version of the model priced at Rs 7.53 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), which is about Rs 30,000 more expensive than the existing variant.


The introduction of the new 'Jazz X' is part of the company's plans to shore up sales volumes of the car, which amounted to just 514 units in July, 2010, as against 1,037 units in the same month last year.

It appears Honda has boundless reserves of either arrogance or stupidity, or both! 'Shoring up volumes' by further inflating the price and bundling some worthless accessories.

If people don't want to buy it because it is overpriced, fix it by increasing the price more. Marie Antoinette would have been impressed.

[Amartya]

Originally Posted by chncar

Marie Antoinette would have been impressed.

Classic! Thanks for this, made my day . I hope someone at Honda reads this too, and does something about this.

While I myself have argued against steep price cuts, the thing to do would have been to launch this version at current levels.

[avishar]

Originally Posted by adimicra

Hey man, can you give any link for that interview? I could not find it? Which page is this? And this is Monday's ET..right?

Yes its in the monday paper,page number 12,bangalore edition( in the editorial page titled ET interactive).

Got it,sorry for the delay!

ET I N T E R A CT I V E TAKASHI NAGAI

‘India will be our global spares hub’

CHANCHALPALCHAUHAN




HONDA Motor Co (HMC), Japan’s second-largest carmaker, is among the most profitable automakers worldwide. Seen as real competition to the mammoth carmaker Toyota Motor Corp, the company, through its local joint venture Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI), has cruised comfortably during its decade-old journey in the Indian market. However, the financial crisis followed by the global economic meltdown has hurt sales. Its recently-launched cars have not propelled its market share. Adding to its woes are the fluctuations in the yen. Takashi Nagai, who took charge as the president and CEO of HSCI in April, has a daunting task ahead to better sales and profitability.
“We want to increase volumes without compromising Honda’s global quality and safety standards. We will continue producing durable cars to keep our brand value intact,” said Mr Nagai, who has spent nearly three decades in Honda and is an experienced hand in production.
A stronger yen has made imports dearer, making its cars uncompetitive in the domestic market and forcing several rounds of price changes. The company’s gamble to launch a super-niche hatchback — with the debut of Jazz — has left its factories underutilised. Jazz is selling a third of its original target of over 2,000 units a month.
That is not the only problem for Nagai. Sales of other sedans such as the Civic and Accord and its premium SUV CR-V are also sliding. The only icing on the cake is its City sedan which is a segment leader — right from its inception — and also serves as its breadand-butter model. However, even that has started to stagnate. Overall, sales in the first quarter of the current fiscal year dipped 4% to 12,240 units, but all these learnings are expected to produce radical changes.
“The market is changing and so are consumer preferences. As a precursor to this shift, we would be the first choice for aspirational cars. The City has consistently set the benchmark in past decade and our small car, expected next year, would set standards for all other compact cars in India,” Mr Nagai said.
Honda entered the US market in 1982, coinciding with the entry of Suzuki Motor Corp’s debut in India. Although the company has come under flak for overpricing its cars, there is a perceptible change in the works at its Indian headquarters in Greater Noida.
A new R&D team has taken charge to increase localisation to maintain price competitiveness of its products in the local market. While Jazz carries the highest 77% local content till now, the company aims to make it over 80% for the new small car. Does it mean that Honda cars would come cheap in India? Not exactly.
The company is attempting to use locallyavailable material for the new car, but there are constraints. “We have roped in our suppliers for the two-wheeler unit, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, and joint-venture outfit, Hero Honda Motors, to deliver at Indian prices conforming to our global standards. So, prices will be very competitive keeping in mind the evolving value-for-money concept of the Indian customer,” Mr Nagai said.
For a company that has one of the lowest market shares, cutting costs is an ambitious task. It sold a little over 61,800 cars last fiscal year and generating volumes is a key to cut costs. It is looking at utilising its second plant at Tapukara in Rajasthan initially to make components, to be followed by cars.
Backed by its trusted set of Indian suppliers, Honda is developing the necessary infrastructure to produce critical engine and transmission parts for its new cars and also feed overseas markets of Thailand and Indonesia from locally-produced spares.
“India would be our global hub to produce several critical parts that otherwise would have been imported. It would help us to leverage India’s low-cost production base for our global operations,” he said.
The India thrust comes from Honda’s successful three-decade operations here, which also makes it one of the single-largest Japanese investor over the past three decades. Besides, its five cars and dozens of two-wheelers for India backed by world’s largest twowheeler company Hero Honda, it operates five major companies in India, also making utility products. While its overall operations are growing, the automotive vertical would see some drastic changes once the small car is launched in the second half of 2011. “Whatever we do, our endeavour is to keep our profits intact and bring world-class products at Honda global standards,” Mr Nagai said.

[breezydrive]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Yes, by HONDA standard.

If they reduce the price by another 25-50K sales may cross 1K units.

Originally Posted by chncar

Honda launches Jazz X..
It appears Honda has boundless reserves of either arrogance or stupidity, or both! 'Shoring up volumes' by further inflating the price and bundling some worthless accessories. ..

HONDA JUST CANNOT REDUCE THE PRICE OF JAZZ !!
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.
.
.
.
Because reduction in JAZZ'S price will affect the "PRICING STRATEGY" FOR THEIR UPCOMING SMALL CAR

[Antonian]

Originally Posted by breezydrive

HONDA JUST CANNOT REDUCE THE PRICE OF JAZZ !!
.
.
.
.
.
Because reduction in JAZZ'S price will affect the "PRICING STRATEGY" FOR THEIR UPCOMING SMALL CAR

Yes You are right Buddy.
Also they says another reason like most of the parts are imported.

[coolmel]

On road price in Mumbai is 8.86L.
Select: 8.49.

[sidindica]

Honda Jazz - Honda Jazz 'X' TV Commercial Pre Release on Twitter - TwitVid

Ad commercial for the jazz X. Typical cute Honda ad.

[GreenDay]

Originally Posted by sidindica

Ad commercial for the jazz X. Typical cute Honda ad.

VERY VERY GOOD ad there!! The kids are just too cute.

How I wish the ad would have ended with the line..."JAZZ X - Now at 5.99L Only".

[Dr.Abhi]

If Honda cant reduce the Jazz's price than they should rather name it like Ex Jazz, or Axe Jazz. Honda should understand that a hatchback customer in India want more value for money rather than snob value(at least Hyundai i20 proves only this thing).

[CBlazer]

Liked the Ad. The alloys look good too. IMO the Jazz still can't sell in large numbers. Unfortunately they started off with too high a premium. Its not easy now for Honda to make big price cuts.

I think this is an opportunity lost for Honda. A very good car - would have been very popular in the segment if they hadn't treated it like a Rolex.

[ashok_lat]

Originally Posted by GreenDay

VERY VERY GOOD ad there!! The kids are just too cute.

How I wish the ad would have ended with the line..."JAZZ X - Now at 5.99L Only".

Rightly said

I will be happy if JAZZ X ad will end like "JAZZ X 1.5 L, 110 BHP IVTEC". I hope the Honda City Engine comes in JAZZ X. That will be a great X Factor

[naveenvenkatesh]

Does anybody have an idea regarding the discounts being dolled out for jazz in Bangalore? Remember reading about 55,000 discount being offered in addition to many accessories.
Do they even sell the first iteration or is it only the 'Select' and 'Jazz X' now?

[suhaas307]

Looks like I'm not losing out on anything, except maybe the choice of that tasty red shade!

Originally Posted by devarshi84

I dont know how many Jazz owners have noticed this but the Jazz stereo is not only uSB capable but bluetooth capable too. I have seen the logo lights on the display panel.

But does anyone know if I can get the uSb port on my car?

How ignorant have I been?! Could you elaborate more on this please?

Bluetooth would have been ideal as I've been fiddling with the stupid AUX wires in my car!

Originally Posted by .Albatross.

With you.
yes i love the car, i appriciate the utility,always mesmerised by its presence but .....but the price. Thats why i dint buy it for my father and it seems the dream of buying it will remain a dream untill i get a jazz x with 1.5 engine at 6 .5lakhs . Honda, you will have to be more competitive to grab my hard earned money.

Don't look at it in that way. Think of it like this instead:

The Jazz is cheaper than the City, smaller and easier to maneuver, almost as spacious (only the boot is smaller than the City's) and almost as powerful (trust me, take it past 3k RPM and you'll begin to believe that it can beat the City in a straight-line!).

Originally Posted by coolmel

I second you. Simply because it comes close to the price of the sedan, the Indian mindset kicks in and there go the sales. And regd the price, I did read somewhere that the Jazz infact is costlier to make than the City. By a little margin, still! And it shows by the good quality interiors. Regd the 1.5L variant, it will come soon. But right now the 1.2 is more than enough. Only time will tell. In Europe Hondas got the Jazz and right after it is the Civic since the hatch makes up for the void left by the City. Whatever it is, its worth it.

Not only that, people don't really understand what the Jazz is. They believe that it's a hatch and that's why, it should be priced like all other hatches. What the Jazz does however, is something the i20, Polo, Punto and the Figo can never match! It's as spacious as a sedan and packs the practicality of a hatch-back in terms of its exterior-size. No other hatch can do that!

And that's reason enough for people to dump their larger sedans and go in for the more practical Jazz which is smaller on the outside, but bigger in the inside. It just makes more sense! And yes, the price may be more, but weigh the pros and cons, and you'll realize that the Jazz can actually justify it's price-tag, to some extent!

And no, the 1.5 might never make it to our shores. The 1.2 is good enough, I believe, and so does Honda. Besides, Honda would want to make a clear distinction between the City and the Jazz in terms of engine capacity.

[DKW]

Attached is the latest price list of the JAZZ and CITY in Goa. Kindly comment since I plan to book the JAZZ next month.