Ahmedabad: Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) will roll out the first cars from its Rajasthan plant in the next financial year, 2014-15, a senior company official said on Tuesday.
HCIL will also launch five new models by 2015.
Honda’s plant at Tappugada, in Alwar district of Rajasthan, which has started making various components, will begin car production in the next financial year, said Shigeru Yamazaki, Senior Vice-President and Director, Marketing and Sales.
Rs 2,500-cr investment
HCIL has invested Rs 2,500 crore on this plant, spread over 450 acres. Its capacity will be 440 cars, or 120,000 units a year, the same as that of Honda’s other plant in Greater Noida, Yamazaki said.
The plant procures 80-90 per cent of its components from local vendors, and has begun exporting its products. Last year, it exported Honda Brio to South Africa.
He said Honda India, which sold 73,000 units last fiscal, expects to use the full capacity at its Greater Noida plant soon, given increased demand. In 2012-13, the company grew 35 per cent, a pace that it expects to sustain.
Yamazaki, who launched family sedan Honda Amaze here, said the company has introduced this diesel car for the first time in India.
Wider choice
So far, Honda has been selling diesel cars only in Europe. Amaze has been developed at the Honda R&D Asia Pacific Company Ltd, Bangkok (Thailand). India is the first country to launch Amaze with Honda’s latest i-DTEC diesel engine technology.
It has introduced the diesel variant to provide customers a wider choice. In India, 70 per cent of car market is for the diesel variant, which Honda did not have until it launched Amaze.
HCIL is increasing the number of its dealers from 150 to 162 across India this year to promote the sale of Amaze, whose typical buyers seem to be middle-income and middle-aged businessmen.
The company is now focusing on tier-2 and tier-3 towns and cities for prospective buyers.
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