Honda India’s second manufacturing facility to commence operation in March, 2014

Encouraged by the massive success of the Amaze compact sedan that has repositioned its maker in the Indian auto industry, Honda Cars India has major expansion plans in the country. Honda has already announced about its new range of brand new cars for India starting with the recently revealed new-generation City, and now the company is all set to commence production at its new car plant.

Reliable sources say that Honda Car India’s second car manufacturing facility at Tapukara, Rajasthan will commence operations in March, 2014 and will produce the ‘Mobilio MPV, the company’s first MPV in India. The Mobilio is expected to launch in India by mid 2014.

Sources say that the Mobilio MPV will be the second new car from Honda in India, after the all new 2014 City sedan launches in the month of January, 2014. The Mobilio will be followed by the launch of the 2014 Jazz later next year.

The new Honda Mobilio is a sub-4 meter compact MPV developed on the Brio’s platform. Under the hood, the vehicle will be powered by a 1.2 liter petrol and a 1.5 liter diesel mills. It is expected to be competitively priced with a starting range of at Rs. 5 to 6 lakhs. With the Mobilio’s launch, Honda expects to a get success similar to the Amaze, which is the company’s first diesel model offering in that has become one of the top-selling cars in the country shortly after its launch in April this year.

A Honda official who requested anonymity revealed that the production at the Tapukara facility is expected to start in March, and the construction work is rapidly progressing.

Another source said that Honda has plans to commence the Mobilio’s production in April, following which it is likely to launch by June 2014. The all new Jazz is to follow with an end of the year launch. The Tapukara facility is expected to manufacture both the Amaze as well as the Mobilio.

When an email request was sent to Honda Cars India, a company spokesperson said, that the company is aiming to start operations at Tapukara plant within the first half of next year. The company is yet to decide on which models are to be produced at the new facility.

Honda’s new Rajasthan factory already has a production unit for Honda Motorcycle & Scooter. The new car production facility will increase Honda’s annual production output by almost double to around 2.9 lakh units by producing more than 1.2 lakh vehicles. At present Honda has a production facility at Greater Noida plant with a capacity of almost 1.7 lakh vehicles per year. Honda has also increased the production capacity by 40 percent by adding another work shift in order to cater to the raising demand for the Amaze compact sedan.

Honda India also plans to launch a compact SUV named Vezel in India, which is recently unveiled at the L.A Auto Show and will hit the Japanese car market in December, this year.

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