Honda To Produce Small Car In Rajasthan Unit

Automobile major, Honda Motors Cos Indian arm, Honda Siel Cars India Ltd, said it was looking at introducing a small car in the Indian market from its upcoming Rajasthan unit in two years time, a top company official said. "We plan to enter the small car market, which will be manufactured at our new unit coming up in Rajasthan in two years time," Honda Siel Cars India's President and CEO, Masahiro Takedagawa told reporters on the sidelines of a press conference on Wednesday.

Honda is engaged in manufacturing premium segment vehicles, which is 20 per cent of the total Indian car market. However 80 per cent of India's car market belongs to the small car segment, Takedagawa said. Asked on pricing of its small car, he said, we are aiming at a premium hatchback for the Indian market. We do have many small car models in our portfolio, but we have not yet decided (on the price).

The companys new unit spread over 600-acres of land in Rajasthan will manufacture 60,000 units in the first phase and it will be expandable to over 2-lakh units, Honda Siel's Sr General Manager, Marketing, Jnaneswar Sen, said, adding that the firm would be spending Rs 1,000 crore in the new unit.

The company has completed its expansion from 60,000 units to one lakh unit per annum in February 2008 at its Noida facility in Uttar Pradesh. The company is also expanding its dealership network to 100 by FY'09. "Our network has gone up from 55 to 80 last year, and we will add another 20 dealers in the current fiscal across the country", said Sen.

[Source: economictimes]
[Note: The picture shown above is the Honda Sports Car Concept]