The Hindu Business Line : Honda launches Civic in Coimbatore

Honda Siel Cars India Ltd is planning to ramp up production from 50,000 units a year to 1,00,000 units by March 2008, two years ahead of the original target.

The company is also on the lookout for establishing a new factory with a view to augmenting production to two lakh units by 2010, according to Mr Vikram Juneja, Regional Head Sales-South.

Speaking to presspersons in Coimbatore on the occasion of the launch of the Honda Civic, he said that the company now has four models in its stable - the City, the Civic, the Accord, and the Honda CRV.

Capacity increase

Out of the investment of Rs 1,000 crore planned for the capacity increase, about Rs 600 crore has already been spent.

The company would manufacture 42,000 units of the City, 15,000 Civic units, 3,000 Accords and 2,000 CRV vehicles by next year. The demand for the City is 65,000 units annually but the company is able to meet only two-thirds of it.

On whether the company was looking at a compact car, he said that feasibility studies were on to determine market demand.

Mr Juneja also said that the company has no plan to launch any diesel variants.

Though diesel is cheaper than petrol, the resale value of diesel cars is less and maintenance cost is also higher.

Mr Juneja said that since its launch less than a fortnight back, the Civic has bookings for 2,400 units; in the current fiscal the company expects to sell 15,000 cars. Of this, 3,000 cars would be sold in the South.

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Honda launches Civic in Coimbatore