Honda announced its foray into the highly competitive low-compact car segment in India with the launch of Brio model, priced between Rs3.95 lakh and Rs 5.1 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), Financial Chronicle said.
The company, which is present in India through a joint venture with the Siel group, Honda Siel Cars India, said it is also targeting revenues of Rs 112 crore this fiscal from the export of auto components from India.
According to HSCI president and CEO Takashi Nagai, “With Brio, we will be entering a new segment for the first time in India. It has been designed and developed specially to meet the needs of customers here.”
He also said, the company has promised to price it less than Rs 5 lakh and has been able to do this through cost-efficiency measures and high localization of components. The top-end variant of the vehicle will cost Rs 5.1 lakh.
“The Brio is at present about 80% localized and over next few months, it will reach 90%,” he said. “This has been key to the pricing strategy of the Brio.”
The Brio will complete with the likes of the Hyundai i10, Maruti WagonR and General Motors Chevrolet Beat, which are priced in a similar range. The Brio will be available in four variants.
Nagai, said, the company expects a large chunk of the customers for the Brio to come from smaller cities, whereas demand in bigger cities is likely to be for existing models like City, Civic and Accord.
“The compact car segment will soon become the second pillar of business for Honda in India,” Nagai said. Commenting on the development of car, which is powered by a 1.2 litre petrol engine, he said,
HSCI’s engineers have been involved in the project right from the drawing stage. The Japanese car company said it has already begun shipping components of the Brio to Thailand from its facility at Rajasthan. “We will have export turnover of Rs 112 crore this fiscal,” CEO Takashi said.
Honda also exports components for the City and Jazz to Malaysia and Indonesia. Honda Motor Company Ltd is Japanese public multinational corporations know as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles. The company is also largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year.
