Honda Car India chief reveals the company's progress and their future plans

Honda Cars India did have a turbulent time a couple of years ago struggling in a diesel driven market, however, the company is back in action and although not in the best of health, they are currently well positioned. The company’s president and CEO Hironori Kanayama while speaking to TOI revealed how the future looks for the Japanese car maker in India.

On being asked about the company’s new strategy Kanayama said, Honda has grown and its global sales last fiscal hit the four million mark. In the future, for the period of 2016-17, their target is to sell six million vehicles and focus on emerging markets like India to hike their numbers. Their first strategy was to have a diesel engine which was addressed and the second was to have maximum local content. The Amaze has as much as 90 per cent local content and the City has 92 per cent. Their third strategy is to penetrate smaller towns and cities. They said they don’t have sufficient resources to cater to the Tier-II and Tier-III cities which are eagerly awaiting Honda vehicles. Their plan is to have 170 dealers in 110 cities.

Honda also plans to fill in the gaps in their product line-up by introducing a sub-Rs 20 lakh SUV which will be introduced in a couple of years. Talking about their focus on diesel products, Kanayama said when they launched the Amaze in the market 80 per cent of the vehicles were diesel powered, but now the ratio is 70:30. He added subsidies won’t last long and said the economy should pick up. On the European Union free trade agreement with India he said that SIAM has taken up the matter, however, it’s the Government of India’s decision and that they need fair circumstances to compete. 

Source: ET Auto