The Hindu Business Line : Honda Siel's Rajasthan unit may become operational by 2010

The President and CEO of Honda Siel Cars India Ltd, Mr Masahiro Takedagawa (right), and the Executive Director of TVS, Mr R. Dinesh, at the rededication of the Honda facility at T.V. Sundram Iyengar &Sons Ltd in Coimbatore on Tuesday. - K. Ananthan

Coimbatore March 13 The second passenger car manufacturing facility of Honda Siel Cars India Ltd (HSCIL) proposed in Rajasthan is likely to become operational by 2010 and the Rajasthan facility may be dedicated to rolling out small cars.

The President and CEO of HSCIL, Mr Masahiro Takedagawa, disclosing this to Business Line, however, added that the small car from HSCIL stable will not be priced below Maruti's `Swift', as the customers in India do not look for cheap products from HSCIL.

Mr Takedagawa was here to inaugurate the renewed `Sundaram-Honda' showroom-cum-service facility of T V Sundram Iyengar and Sons Ltd in the city on Tuesday.

New facility

The company will be investing about Rs 2,000 crore into its Rajasthan project. Currently, it is identifying suitable land and location for the plant in consonance with the State Government. The new plant will have an initial capacity to produce 50,000 units.

Mr Takedagawa said the Noida unit's production capacity enhancement (from 50,000 units to 1,00,000 units) would be through by November this year. The unit, currently, manufactures Honda City, City ZX, Accord and Honda Civic.

In addition to this, the company sells its sports utility vehicle model Honda CRV, which is fully imported. Honda, which clocked a 40 per cent growth in its passenger car sale between April 2006 and February 2007 at 60,000 cars, expects to achieve a sales growth of 15 per cent in 2007-08, when it hopes to sell about 70,000 cars. The relatively slower growth is, according to Mr Takedagawa, due to production constraints.

Earlier, the HSCIL CEO formally commissioned the renovated `Sundaram Honda' service facility. According to Mr R. Dinesh, Executive Director of T V Sundram Iyengar and Sons Ltd, the service centre has been expanded from 2,500 sq ft floor space to 6,000 sq ft.

Mr Dinesh, speaking on the occasion, said traditionally the southern passenger car market was seen as `D' (diesel vehicle dominant) segment market, but this myth has been broken by Honda whose vehicles in terms of sheer quality performance, low maintenance cost and better re-sale value have proved as a market clincher in the region.