Honda Cars India stops production at Greater Noida plant

Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) will not produce cars at its Greater Noida plant in Uttar Pradesh anymore and will depend on its Rajasthan facility to produce its entire product range in India. The company used to manufacture cars like Honda City, CR-V and Civic from the plant.

The company has not officially come out with a statement on the closure of the facility for production but news agency PTI confirmed citing sources that the Japanese automaker has decided to pull the plug on production at its Greater Noida plant in Uttar Pradesh.

Honda India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese Honda Motor Co. The plant in Greater Noida was set up in 1997. Though the operations with regard to production of cars would cease at the plant, it'll continue to be used as the company's corporate head office, spare parts division and research and development (R&D) centre.

Honda will produce all its cars for India from its Tapukara facility in Rajasthan. HCIL had earlier this year initiated a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its manufacturing line associates at the plant to increase productivity and efficiency.

Honda's Greater Noida unit has a production capacity of one lakh units per annum, while it can produce 1.8 lakh units per annum at the Tapukara facility. The plant also produces engines that are exported to other countries.

HCIL had reported sales of 9,990 units in the domestic market in November; up 55 per cent from 6,459 units in November 2019.

Rajesh Goel, Honda Senior V-P and Director had said although there are continuing challenges of pandemic and its impact on overall consumer sentiment, the rise in personal mobility is expected to help us sustain our sales momentum during the rest of fiscal year.

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With PTI inputs