Honda Car India has officially announced a realignment of its manufacturing operations in India. With the new announcement, Honda has discontinued two vehicles: the Civic and the CR-V from the model range in India. The new Honda City, which was launched earlier this year, will be the most premium and expensive car the brand will now sell in India.
While Honda has officially announced that production at its Great Noida plant has now stopped, production of the Civic and CR-V has been phased out entirely. Production of the Honda City sedan has now moved to the manufacturer’s plant in Tapukara, near Alwar, Rajasthan.
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Gaku Nakanishi, President and CEO of Honda Cars India said,
Despite a rebound in sales in the last three months, current market conditions remain unpredictable for the industry as a whole. The impact of COVID-19 has pressured us to strengthen our constitution, and to achieve this, HCIL has decided to consolidate its manufacturing operations by making the Tapukara plant a unified manufacturing base. HCIL continues to believe in the resilience of the Indian economy and expects a more rapid market recovery. India is an extremely important market in Honda’s global strategy and HCIL is committed to bringing its latest and most advanced technology models including electrified vehicles into the future.
Honda Car India sales were greatly affected due to the COVID-19 situation. However, even before that, the Japanese manufacturer did not offer solid figures in the market. The new Honda Civic was launched in the Indian market last year after skipping a generation of the sports sedan. However, it did not get the sales it expected in the Indian market. In the last few months, Honda sold only a couple hundred Civic sedans each month, which is pretty low. Upon reaching the CR-V, the sales figure could not even cross 35 units per month in the last 6 months.
Honda will continue to offer all other vehicles in addition to these two products for the time being. Cars starting from the Honda Amaze, Honda Jazz, Honda WR-V and Honda City will continue to be sold on the market.
Although there is no news about future products of the brand. Honda has said in a press release that it will bring the latest and most advanced technology models to the Indian market. Furthermore, the Japanese manufacturer has said that it also plans to launch electric vehicles in the Indian market in the future. However, deadlines have not yet been provided.
Honda is expected to launch the hybrid version of the City sedan next year. Some reports suggest that the car may arrive as early as the first half of 2021. The Honda City e: HEV or the hybrid vehicle has an electric motor that generates a maximum of 108 hp and 253 Nm of maximum torque. There is also a 1.5-liter i-VTEC petrol engine that produces a maximum of 98 hp and 127 Nm of torque. When it launches, it will be one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles on the market, but it will be priced much higher than regular City variants. The Honda City and Amaze remain the brand’s best-selling cars on the Indian market.
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