Text: Anusha B
Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL) to source components in India worth Rs 1000 crore during the current fiscal ousting the Rs 700 crore sourcing in the previous year. HCIL had a very luring and profitable 2014-15 fiscal and they figured the growth percentage as 41%. The company also plans to increase the production capacity in its Rajasthan plant by investing Rs 380 crore in 2015-16. On realising this investment the company perceives an additional capacity of 60,000 units which outputs 300,000 units per annum a significant milestone HCIL missions in an years time.
Katsushi Inoue, President and CEO, HCIL said, “We studied the Indian market and understood the need of our customers. As an outcome of it we started localising heavily for our cars and the recently launched Jazz has 95% of local content. To achieve this we have partnered with many suppliers here in India and we will also export Rs 1000 crore worth of components this year. Unless customer supports us with the promising feedbacks we would not have achieved this growth,” revealed Inoue.
Recently HCIL launched its refreshed ‘all new Jazz’, a B+ segment car in both diesel and petrol models. When it was launched few years back in India, it saw some setbacks due to non introduction of diesel engine model and relatively higher prize. Globally, Jazz is a successful model with 5.5 million units sold across 75 countries since its first generation launch in 2001. With careful insights in place and with the help of extensive market surveys across the world on people’s driving needs and lifestyles, Jazz again sweeps the Indian terrains with its refreshed looks and specifications.
Forecasting the outcome of Jazz in Indian market Jnaneswar Sen, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales, Honda cars India Ltd averred that “ We strongly believe that the Jazz will meet both the rational and the aspirational needs of the customers. The ‘all new Jazz’ will be a key pillar of business and would be instrumental in driving the growth for Honda cars in India.”
The new Jazz is developed as the world’s best functional compact hatchback which offers dynamic styling, outstanding package, class-leading fuel economy, advanced technology equipment and versatile utility. The diesel variant of Jazz is powered by 1.5L i-DTEC diesel engine claiming an fuel efficiency of 27.3 Kmpl with maximum power of 100 PS at 3600rpm and maximum torque of 200 N-m at 1750 rpm. The petrol variant too is powered with a refined 1.2 L i-VTEC engine that delivers a minimum power of 90 PS at 6000 rpm and a torque of 110 N-m at 4800 rpm where the 5 speed manual transmission claims to offer fuel economy of 18.7kmpl and the advanced CVT delivers fuel efficiency of 19kmpl.
Hitherto Honda has dealer network in 157 cities with 240 sales outlets. It is also looking to fatten their dealer network and by 2016 HCIL planning to have 300 sales outlets in 200 cities. With all these missions get shaped up Honda will continue innovation and fingers crossed its milestones will be superseded with new challenges.
