The most famous Japanese auto company Honda is entering into the small car segment in India. The car is slated for launch in Q3 of 2011 and may cost Rs5 lakhs for its base model, said its VP for marketing of HSCL. Honda had earlier displayed this car in the Delhi Auto Expo. With the 1.2 lit petrol engine, Honda is not in a hurry to go in for the higher versions or diesel versions or even LPG/CNG versions, he further stressed, quoting the lack of global technology for the company.
Honda’s practice is to have major portion of localized components and this applies for the new car too. Honda’s City [images], Civic [images], Jazz [images] and Accord [images] have domestic components of 76%, 74%, 77% and 28% respectively. The company visions to fetch double digit growth during 2010-11 with the installation of a second facility as the first facility is expected to reach the full capacity. The Noida facility is capable of delivering 1 lakh units but the current production range is 60000 units. He added that the company is pinning hope on the small car and there will be a perfectly created dealer network prior to the formal launch.