NEW DELHI: Honda Cars India confirmed Wednesday that it is halting production at the Greater Noida plant and that the Honda Civic and CR-V will be discontinued in India.
The Japanese automaker is now moving all its production from the Greater Noida plant to the Tapukara plant in Rajasthan. Honda said that it is consolidating its operations in India to be sustainable and efficient and that the line will be reduced to just 4 models.
The Tapukara plant currently employs 5,500 employees and has a total capacity of 1.8 lakh that will meet the automaker’s current production needs. Honda currently sells about 9,500 units a month.
The Greater Noida plant manufactured Honda City, Civic and CR-V. Honda City production has already moved to the Tapukara plant and the automaker has halted sales of the Civic and CR-V with immediate effect.
The automaker was operating in just 70% of the market segment and will go even lower as it has decided to go ahead with only Honda City, WR-V, Amaze and Jazz. Although the Honda Civic and CR-V had a very small share of about 3-4% of the total volume, they were still crucial for the company to establish its reach in the premium segment of the automotive market.
The automaker had recently released BS6 compatible versions of the Civic and CR-V. The Civic and CR-V were showing an upward trend in sales, but continuing with these models would have resulted in a massive increase in cost of production at the Greater Noida plant.
Honda Cars India’s market share had fallen to 3.7% in fiscal 2020 from 5.5% in fiscal 2019. The automaker’s best performance was recorded in April-June of fiscal 2015 when it managed to get nearly the 7% of the market share.
“We are consolidating all of our production at the Tapukara plant and will stop production at the Greater Noida plant. The company already had a large contraction in terms of market penetration and operated in only 70% of the market segment; with this it will go even lower. Eventually, the company will have only four models in India: City, WR-V, Amaze and Jazz, ”said Rajesh Goel, senior vice president and director of HCIL, in a conversation with ET Auto.
“These two models (Civic and CR-V) were being produced at the Greater Noida plant and if we wanted to continue with them, we would have to make a new investment that will increase the cost of production that we did not want to do,” Goel added.
The Japanese automaker is now moving all its production from the Greater Noida plant to the Tapukara plant in Rajasthan. Honda said that it is consolidating its operations in India to be sustainable and efficient and that the line will be reduced to just 4 models.
The Tapukara plant currently employs 5,500 employees and has a total capacity of 1.8 lakh that will meet the automaker’s current production needs. Honda currently sells about 9,500 units a month.
The Greater Noida plant manufactured Honda City, Civic and CR-V. Honda City production has already moved to the Tapukara plant and the automaker has halted sales of the Civic and CR-V with immediate effect.
The automaker was operating in just 70% of the market segment and will go even lower as it has decided to go ahead with only Honda City, WR-V, Amaze and Jazz. Although the Honda Civic and CR-V had a very small share of about 3-4% of the total volume, they were still crucial for the company to establish its reach in the premium segment of the automotive market.
The automaker had recently released BS6 compatible versions of the Civic and CR-V. The Civic and CR-V were showing an upward trend in sales, but continuing with these models would have resulted in a massive increase in cost of production at the Greater Noida plant.
Honda Cars India’s market share had fallen to 3.7% in fiscal 2020 from 5.5% in fiscal 2019. The automaker’s best performance was recorded in April-June of fiscal 2015 when it managed to get nearly the 7% of the market share.
“We are consolidating all of our production at the Tapukara plant and will stop production at the Greater Noida plant. The company already had a large contraction in terms of market penetration and operated in only 70% of the market segment; with this it will go even lower. Eventually, the company will have only four models in India: City, WR-V, Amaze and Jazz, ”said Rajesh Goel, senior vice president and director of HCIL, in a conversation with ET Auto.
“These two models (Civic and CR-V) were being produced at the Greater Noida plant and if we wanted to continue with them, we would have to make a new investment that will increase the cost of production that we did not want to do,” Goel added.
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