Friday, Mar 29 2024 | Time 05:34 Hrs(IST)
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Business Economy


Honda to bring Upper segment models in India

Hyderabad, May 26 (UNI) Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL), which has strong volume growth of nine per cent in 2017 after launching of new city and WR-V, will bring upper segment models in India in future.
The upper segment models are very successful in other countries and assessing the market, will bring this upper segment models in future in India, said Yoichiro Uneno, President and CEO of Honda Cars India Limited, while interacting with the media here today.
While referring to GST, he said car prices expected to decline after the GST rolled out but no sure. The exact status will know only once the GST was implemented.
To a question, Mr Yoichiro said it is need investments for infrastructure development in development electric cars.
Customers accept to pay as electric cars prices would be more than double against the existing vehicles.
Mentioning about the two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities at Greater Noida (UP) and Tapukara (Rajasthan), which have combined capacity of 2.4 lakh with capability to ramp up to three lakh per annum, he said the capacity is adequate for some time to come.
However, the company is in the process of land acquisition in Gujarat for setting up a greenfield plant for manufacturing of two-wheeler in future.
Stating that the company's growth is expected to be achieved more than the country's automotive sector in the fiscal, he said the company had sold about 1,57, 313 units during 2016-2017, has begun this fiscal with a growth of 38.1 per cent in April.
The company has been maintaining strong sales momentum since the beginning of 2017 with overall sales growing by nine per cent during Jan-April 2017, as compared to the same period last year, he added.
Mr Yoichiro said, ''We have launched new Honda City and sporty WR-V in 2017 and the response for new models has been excellent with over 16,000 bookings for WR-V alone.
''Last year was tough as we had to face a few challenges, including the changes in preference of fuel variants and demonetisation. This had a big impact on the overall volumes. However, we are looking at a more exciting phase ahead,'' he said.
''We are evaluating several models based on the feedback from potential customers. These include Civic and WR-V, a bigger SUV, and even diesel variant of Honda CR-V, for possible launch in India,'' he added.
Referring to the country's automotive market, the CEO said India is the fifth largest market globally and expected to become the fourth largest by displacing Germany later this year and go on to become the third largest market after China and the US by 2020. Currently, Japan ranks third.
''To succeed in India, we need to address the mass market as well. We are trying to strike a balance between the premium brand tag and mass market volume manufacturer,'' he said.
Referring to the components business, he said that over the past three years, the components business has grown by over 157 per cent to close last year with business of Rs 1140 crore.
''We have managed localisation of over 90 per cent in several models. As volumes go up, we would be able to significantly pass on the benefits to the customers,'' he added.
The company has a strong sales and distribution network with 345 facilities in 230 cities of the country.
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