Honda Cars India Ltd President and CEO Yoichiro Ueno on Tuesday (February 14) said the company will regain its leadership position in the premium sedan segment.
The Japanese auto giant has launched the 4th generation Honda City 2017 and expects the car to outnumber the current market leader in the category, the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz.
Ueno said, "Since the launch of Honda city in 1998, we have sold 6.5 Lakh units. The car has set new industry standards and with the new City, we aim to exceed our customers’ expectations by offering amazing value at a very competitive price."
The New Honda City is launched at a price tag of Rs 8,49,000 and it goes as high as Rs 13,56,990 for the top variant. In the nine-month period between April 2016 and January 2017, Honda sold 45,395 units of City while Maruti Suzuki sold 53,644 units of the Ciaz.
The earlier version of Honda City, which was launched in 2014, remains one of the most successful models for the company. The company sold over 2.2 Lakh unit of City 2014.
The company said that demonetisation, stock correction and a shift from diesel to petrol have affected its sales in recent months.
"We expect to report positive numbers very soon once delivery for the new Honda City normalises," Ueno said. Honda said the new model has received 5,000 bookings over the last ten days.
Asked about the recent capital expenditure made by the company, Raman Kumar Sharma, senior vice president and director, said the company till now has invested around Rs 8,000 crore in India.
"In the last three and half years, we have invested Rs 3,000 crore in India, which shows how important the Indian market is for us," Sharma said.
The new Honda City is powered by the existing 1.5 litre i-VTEC petrol engine and 1.5 litre i-DTEC diesel engine.
The petrol engine is mated to a 5-speed manual transmission and a CV automatic transmission whereas the diesel engine is paired to a 6-speed manual gearbox.
The petrol engine generates 117 hp of power and 145 Nm of torque while the diesel produces 99 hp of power and 200 Nm of torque. The company claims the fuel efficiency of the car at 25.6 kmpl for the diesel MT and 17.4 kmpl for the petrol MT.
Honda said it will continue to increase its presence in the Indian market. At present its has 332 outlets.
BW Reporters
The author is Senior Correspondent with BW Businessworld
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