Honda Cars India invests Rs. 500 crore for new R&D centre for India specific cars

The President and CEO of Honda Cars India, Yoshiyuki Matsumoto had earlier confirmed to media at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show that the company will be setting up a new R&D center in the near future to design and develop India specific cars right from scratch. He revealed that the localization of the future Honda cars in India is much needed in order to offer more affordable pricing and also to address the Indian consumers’ particular needs better.

Now a reputed journal has reported that the Japanese car major is investing a whopping Rs. 500 crore towards the development of this new Research & Development center and that it will be set in Honda India’s first car manufacturing facility that is located in Greater Noida. The Japanese parent company will be also mandating the significant increase in the usage of local made components in the Indian subsidiary’s existing product portfolio.

Honda Cars India’s existing Research & Development operations will be integrated into the new company that will be called the Honda Genbetsu India. This new R&D center will also significantly contribute to Honda’s increased localization strategy apart from offering special design support for the India-specific car models that will be launch in the coming years.

Honda Cars India is currently in the peak of its success in the country, and the company is making the most of it by expanding massively in India. Honda is making an all round expansion that includes increased production capacity, dealership network and obviously its product portfolio. Honda has recently commenced car production in its second facility in Tapukara, Rajasthan by rolling out the first car unit of Amaze from the facility on 24^th of February. The new R&D facility will be a new feather in the cap of Honda India’s expansion.

Honda India continues its astral success in the India car market that began in April 2013 with the launch of its Amaze compact sedan. As the Amaze continues to grow in its popularity, Honda started this year with another huge success in the form of the all new City sedan in the month of January, 2014. The Japanese car maker’s monthly sales rate reached a superb 15,714 units in January this year, which is about thrice as much as that of the same month in the year 2014, which stood at 5,337 vehicles. This great sales figure during the time of the Indian car market’s slowdown fetched the car maker the 4^th position in the Indian auto industry.

Apart from the very successful Amaze and the already hit newly launched 4^th generation City both of which come with their diesel counterparts, Honda is preparing to launch more cars this year that are also expected to receive similar favors from the car consumers of India. Honda’s first diesel car, Amaze is certainly responsible for turning the company’s fortunes in India. Honda is currently gearing up to launch the Mobilio MPV and the new 2014 Jazz in India this year.