Japanese automaker Honda Cars India, which has been losing momentum in the Indian car market, plans to bring India-focused SUV and a mass-hybrid car to revive sales in the domestic market.
Due to the lack of products in the volume segment, the Japanese carmaker’s market share slipped from its peak of 7% in FY15 to 3% now, according to the SIAM data.
In an exclusive interaction with Mobility Outlook, Rajesh Goel, Senior Vice President and Director, Sales and Marketing, Honda Cars India, said, “We are developing a brand new India-focused SUV. The SUV segment currently contributes to 32-33% of the total car sales in India, and it is expected to grow further. We are expecting to get good volumes from the SUV segment.”
He also added that the company will be launching a hybrid in the mass segment by next year.
Agreeing to the fact that Honda is late to the SUV party, Goel asserted that the car business is not a short lead-time business but a long lead-time one. Also, it is not possible for all companies to be present in each and every segment.
The company has been working for the last one-and-half years in streamlining the operations, making it lean and robust. The company has shut down its manufacturing facility in Greater Noida and discontinued Honda Civic and CRV to make operations lean and strong.
“We are committed to Indian operations, and we are doing whatever is to be done to make the operations sustainable,” Goel added.
Read Also: Honda Cars launches the updated Amaze ahead of the festive season
The company on Wednesday launched the facelift version of Honda Amaze at INR 6.32 lakh, primarily targeted towards Tier-I and Tier-II cities as the 68% sales volume of Amaze comes from those markets.
On slowing sales of the sedan, Goel opined that the overall market is shifting to SUV so that the sedan will fall, but on the absolute numbers, it will grow as the overall car market is expected to grow at 7% CAGR in the long term.