Japanese auto major Honda on Tuesday entered India's competitive small-car segment by
launching Honda Brio, priced at Rs 3.95 lakh and going upto Rs 5.01 lakhs.
MUST SEE: Top cars in your budget Rs 3-8 lakh The Brio will be compete in the hatchback segment with the likes of Maruti Swift, Hyundai i10, Toyota Etios Liva, Maruti A Star, Maruti Wagon R and Ford Figo to name a few.
The
auto company is pinning its hopes on the car doing well in India, its second market. Honda's first venture into the crowded Indian small car segment comes at a time when the company needs to arrest the dip in its sales.
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 financial year from the export of auto components from India.
"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," HSCI President and CEO Takashi Nagai told reporters in the national capital.
SPECIAL: Facing sales crunch, Honda rests hope on Brio He said the company had promised to price it less than Rs 5 lakh and has been able to do this through cost-efficiency measures and high localisation of components. However, the top-end variant of the vehicle will cost Rs 5.1 lakh.
"The Brio is at present about 80 per cent localised and over the next few months, it will reach 90 per cent," he said, adding, "This has been key to the pricing strategy of the Brio."
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 such as the 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 the 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.
On exports of components, Nagai said HSCI has already started shipping components of the Brio to Thailand from its facility at Rajasthan.
"We will have export turnover of Rs 112 crore this financial year," he said. The company also exports components for the City and Jazz to Malaysia and Indonesia.
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