Honda becomes the 4th largest car maker in India

Only a couple of years back, Honda Cars India was struggling to sustain in the domestic car market of India. The Japanese car major had a hard time surviving in India, which is a price sensitive, diesel loving market. Honda’s cars are generally known for its high price quotient that literally kept the general mass away from its great cars. Moreover, Honda was a petrol only car maker, which did not suit the diesel loving audience of India.

However, now a lot has changed for the Japanese car giant and its fortunes have turned completely. Honda, which was not a very significant car major in India, has now become the 4^th largest selling automaker in India. The company has outshone the Indian auto major Tata Motors and its Japanese rival and global auto leader Toyota Motor, to grab the 4^th spot in the Indian market in January this year.

Honda Cars India has climbed up the car makers positions in the beginning of the current year 2014 with a total domestic sale of 15,714 vehicles in the month of January. The Japanese car giant is all vowed to keep this newly acquired position if the new City continues to get its astral success.

Honda has however worked hard to earn this position. The car maker changed its strategy and tried to please the Indian consumers hard to finally get its deserving success. After getting very good response to its affordable Brio hatch, Honda seemed to tone down its pricing strategy just for the Indian populace and on top of that add a new diesel car. This resulted in the outstanding successful Honda Amaze compact sedan, which is Honda first diesel car in India based on the Brio’s platform.

The diesel car combined with a very aggressive pricing worked wonders for Honda India, and it quickly contemplated on a slew of new model launches along with their diesel counterparts to make it big here. Soon the all new City with great looks, superb feature list and diesel version launched in India, and a lot of other brand new cars are to follow this year.

Within days of the new Honda City’s launch on 7^th January, it has registered a sale of 7,184 units in January, while the increasing demand for Amaze continues and it sold 7,398 units in January. Honda surely had a great start this year, thanks primarily to its diesel models.

Given its unbelievable success in India even during the market slump, Honda is actually eyeing for the top spot now. It is ensuring its continued success with a slew of new cars that includes the all new Jazz hatch and the Mobilio MPV, which will be launched within this year, while a new compact SUV model is expected to follow soon next year. All these new cars will obviously be offered in both petrol and diesel.

Given that India’s third largest carmaker, Mahindra & Mahindra’s sales are declining with no new immediate launches, Honda could grab this spot soon.