Honda set to increase production output at its new Tapukara facility

Honda Cars India has decided to increase the production output of its new car manufacturing facility at Tapukara, Rajasthan, which the company inaugurated quite recently. Honda Motor is contemplating to boost the production rates of this car factory by starting a second shift for production in about seven to eight months. This decision is being taken by the Japanese car major in order to help the company meet its target of a massive sales jump of an almost 50 percent to around 200,000 units in the financial year of 2014-15.

The Japanese car major has been growing by leaps and bounds in India post the introduction of its diesel driven cars. Honda Cars India which is the fully owned Indian subsidiary of the parent Japanese premium car major, Honda Motors is also thought to be soon boosting the capacity of the plant again in the next two to three years time, as the company has set itself the target of selling 300,000 vehicles by the financial year of 2016-17.

Honda India’s Senior Director and Vice President of the Sales and Marketing division, Shigeru Yamazaki said that the company is currently producing cars in only one shift at the new Tapukara manufacturing plant in Rajasthan. As the company’s products are growing in demand, the company will eventually increase the plant’s production to its fullest capacity by the last quarter of this financial year.

Honda is currently rolling out only the Amaze compact sedan from this massive Tapukara plant which is spread across 450 acres of land. The manufacturing facility is currently working in one shift only with the production capacity of rolling out 60,000 units per year. However, the plant’s total capacity of production is actually 120,000 vehicles per year when two working shifts are implemented. Apart from the Amaze, the upcoming Jazz premium hatchback is also expected to be produced in this production facility. Moreover, the imminent upcoming Mobilio MPV might as well be produced at the Tapukara plant post its launch in India. Currently it is being manufactured at the first plant of Honda India.

After the launch of the super hit all new City mid-sized sedan in January this year, Honda Cars India is very busy preparing for the launch of the Mobilio MPV. This compact 7-seater multi-purpose vehicle, which has been already launched in the Indonesian car market earlier this year, is going to launch in the month of July this year. Like its cousins the Amaze and the City, the Mobilio MPV is also going to be launched in both its petrol as well as diesel variants in India. Post its market launch, the Mobilio is going to be the primary rival of the current compact MPV segment leader Maruti Suzuki Ertiga.

After the launch of the Mobilio, Honda India is going to launch the all new 2014 Jazz premium hatchback. The Jazz is expected to launch by the end of this calendar year or by the end of this fiscal.