Honda Cars India will re-introduce its successful Civic sedan in a full-hybrid variant in a bid to expand share in one of the world’s fastest growing auto markets.

The car maker, which has been struggling to grow off late, is also looking at introducing a face-lift of its multi purpose vehicle Mobilio to boost its fortunes. But the big question is: can these products help Honda get back its mojo in India?

“We are evaluating re-introducing the Civic in India. A face-lift of the Mobilio is also under consideration,” Jnaneswar Sen, Senior Vice President – Marketing and Sales, Honda Cars India told BusinessLine .

Honda has been losing market share to Maruti, Hyundai and Mahindra & Mahindra in the absence of a strong product portfolio. Its market share in the passenger vehicle segment fell to 4.95 per cent during April-January 2017 from 7.03 per cent in the year-ago period.

Honda City, which it introduced in 1998, remains the bread and butter model for the company. In such a scenario, it is essential for Honda to bring in more contemporary models at a faster pace to continue growth in India. And an all-new Civic could be one of them.

“We see that customers are upgrading to higher segments. The segment the City served earlier and is serving now has changed. A good chunk of those customers are ready to move to the next level which can be served by Civic,” said Suraj Ghosh, Principal Analyst - Southasia Powertrain Forecasts at IHS Automotive.

Honda had introduced the Civic in India in 2006 and it was one of the largest-selling sedans back then. Honda, however, had to discontinue its production in 2012 as the car did not have a diesel engine at a time when the market was shifting towards it. That space has been filled up by Corolla right now.

 

Full hybrid cars

However, with customers again backing petrol, the company can successfully bring it back.

Honda is also re-introducing the Civic in Japan after a seven-year hiatus. Full hybrid cars use both traditional engine as well as a motor and offer better fuel efficiency.

“Income levels are much higher now and customers are also more environment conscious. A full-hyrbrid engine will work well for Civic. However, its success will depend on the vehicle’s features and how different it is in terms of pricing as people are not willing to pay too huge a premium for some minor differentiators,” says VG Ramakrishnan, MD & Managing Partner at Avanteum Advisors.

Abdul Majeed, Partner at PwC India, said bringing back the Civic will help strengthen Honda’s product portfolio, which has just seven cars right now: Brio, Jazz, Amaze, BR-V, CR-V, Amaze and the Accord Hybrid.

“The more the products in a car maker’s portfolio, the easier it is to sustain customer interest. In India, it is extremely difficult to gauge customer segments. You cannot depend on just one product. But they must look at feedback in the market place before re-introducing the Civic.”

The automaker discontinued the production of seven-seater mid-size Mobilio in India last year due to dwindling demand.

The last unit was sold in February. The company has already revealed the car’s facelift in Indonesia but has retained the 1.5-litre engines for both the petrol and diesel versions there.

“The MPV segment is doing well in India. But the future depends a lot on the kind of powertrain a vehicle offers. For acceptance in a big way, the powertain combination has to be good. The 1.5-litre engines (for Mobilio) may be slightly underpowered,” said Ghosh.

They need to address that for ensuring the success of revamped Mobilio in India, he added.

Majeed pointed out that the car market has evolved in the last few years. And customers are looking at good in-vehicle connectivity as well as driving comfort apart from fuel efficiency.

“Honda needs to take the risk of bringing in these products as they have high brand recall and can draw customers to the showrooms,” he added.

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