Change for Betterment!!!
G. Ravishankar
Gone were the days when people
preferred to have a big car. The
modern trend is to drive swiftly with
compact cars. The year that''s gone gave an ever-increasing
number of car options to the Indian car buyers.
They could choose from a wider
plethora and the good news is 2007 promises to unveil an even better fare.
Taking this fact in to
consideration, Honda Siel Cars India plans to launch its compact car in the
first quarter of 2009 and hopes to sell 40,000 units a year, according to
component makers, who have been asked to submit bids for supplying parts.
Amazingly, Honda’s ambition is to break into the
segment which accounts for
70 per cent of the Indian market.
Have you ever wondered how Honda’s
compact car brands — a hatchback called the Jazz in Europe and Fit in Asia —
are not available in India?
“Every manufacturer works on
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follows
full and minor model changes, we
can’t comment on specifics,’’ said NK Goila, vice-president at Honda.
The compact car will be preceded by
the introduction of a new City
sedan in 2008. The company expects to sell 60,000 units of the new vehicle a
year, said the suppliers, who wished to remain unnamed. The City is the highest
selling sedan in India
at 40,000 cars a year.
Honda, which entered the Indian
market in 1997, leads all the car segments in which it operates except the SUV
segment. The company dominates the mid-sized, premium and executive segments
with the City, Accord and the recently-launched Civic sedan.
It also prompted General Motors and
Hyundai to work on smaller engines for their Chevrolet U-VA and Getz vehicles
to avail the tax break.
Honda is building a factory for
50,000-units a year in Rajasthan where it plans to make the compact car. The
car is likely to compete against the Maruti Swift, Chevrolet U-VA
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and Hyundai Getz in the premium
hatchback segment. The Swift sells around 61,000 units a year while the Getz
sells 15,000 units.
While Honda has 1.3 litre and 1.5
litre engines that could be put in the small car, it is also reportedly working
on a 1.2 litre engine to avail the tax breaks given in last year’s budget,
component makers say.
But in its 10-year blueprint for India’s
automotive industry released in January, the Government reduced the car size to
3.8 metres, potentially derailing the investment plans of these carmakers.
India is striving for introducing
new models on the road to fulfill customer’s need. A major renaissance is certain to take place
in a couple of years.
ENDS