After a subdued last year, Honda Cars India Limited has started with strong volume growth of 9 per cent in 2017, backed by launch of new City and WR-V.
It expects to achieve a growth of more than the country's automotive sector this year.
The Japanese automotive company, which sold about 1,57, 313 units during 2016-2017, has begun this fiscal with a growth of 38 per cent in April, and has taken to a phase of consolidation with the GST regime implementation to kick in.
Yoichiro Uneno, President and CEO of Honda Cars India Limited, said, “We have launched new Honda City and sporty WR-V in 2017 and the response for new models has been excellent with over 16,000 bookings for WR-V alone.”
“Last year was tough as we had to face a few challenges including the changes in preference of fuel variants. This had a big impact on the overall volumes. However, we are looking at a more exciting phase ahead,” he said.
“We are evaluating several models based on the feedback from potential customers. These include Civic and WR-V, a bigger SUV, and even diesel variant of Honda CR-V, for possible launch in India,” he said.
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Referring to the country's automotive market and potential, the CEO said, “India is the fifth largest market globally and I expect it to become the fourth largest by displacing Germany later this year and go on to become third largest market after China and the US by 2020. Currently, Japan ranks third.”
“As a company over the years, Honda is perceived as a premium brand. To succeed in India, we need to address the mas market as well. We are trying to strike a balance between the premium brand tag and mass market volume manufacturer,” he said.
Referring to the parts business, he said that over the past three years, the parts business has grown by over 157 per cent to close last year with business of Rs 1140 crore.
“We have managed localisation of over 90 per cent in several models. As volumes go up, we would be able to significantly pass on the benefits to the customers,” he said.
Mentioning about the current manufacturing capacity located at Greater Noida and Tapukara in Rajasthan, which have combined capacity of 2.4 lakh with capability to ramp up to 3 lakh per annum, he said that the capacity is adequate for some time to come. However, the company is in the process of acquiring land in Gujarat for a greenfield plant factoring future growth potential.