Honda to make compact car specifically for India

After sixteen years of operations in India, Honda Motor is going make a small car especially for the Indian car consumers.  The Japanese luxury car company has announced on 27^th of November that it will design and develop a compact vehicle specifically for the Indian market.

Honda has revealed its future plans for India at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show. When Honda does come up with its India specific car it will join the compact bandwagon that some global auto makers such as Hyundai, Ford and General Motors have already joined by producing Eon, Figo and Beat respectively to charm the especially the Indian audience.

Interestingly the largest car maker of the Indian auto industry, Maruti Suzuki India Limited still does not have a fully locally developed vehicle, though the company did express its wish to churn out one back in the year 2009.

In the Indian car market, the compact or small car segment has been an all time favorite, and lot of global car makers are considering this particular segment in order to boost sales.

The president and CEO of Honda Motors, Takanobu Ito revealed at the Tokyo Motor Show that Honda Motor has augmented its focus on the fast developing Asian markets and believes that India and Indonesia will together account for half of the company’s total production.

He added that the Asian market is very important for the company. And the very fact that Honda is assigning the Indian car market to Yoshiyuki Matsumoto implies how important the market is for the company.

Matsumoto is the executive vice president at Honda Thailand-and also the president and CEO of Honda Cars India and Honda two-wheeler in India.

Matsumoto is the chief engineer of the first-gen model Honda Fit or Jazz hatchback that was launched in the global market back in the year 2001. Matsumoto is thought to be one of the most potential contenders to become the next global Honda CEO.

Matsumoto said that he is in India for developing an India specific car, and India is a very large market for compact cars. Honda needs to understand and identify the domestic consumers’ requirements and bring down its cost via research. For this the company will also ramp up the R&D in India.

Honda has revealed its India specific plans when most of the car makers in India are dealing with the slow down stricken market owing to unstable economic growth.

Honda Cars India however has been registering great sales rates even in the Indian market slowdown. This great success is credited to the introduction of the Amaze, compact sedan which is the company’s first diesel offering in India. The Honda Amaze post its launch in April has been hugely appreciated by both the market experts and consumers and is currently one of the fastest selling cars in India.

Matsumoto said that Honda is considering developing the next series of India specific cars based on the Brio and Jazz platforms. He did not reveal the time though.