2015: Not Honda's year
Honda has had a fairly successful run in the Indian market. It’s breadwinner, the City, has been the C-segment king ever since it launched back in the late 1990’s. A decade and a half later, the City still holds the title. Two years ago, Honda developed the i-DTEC engine and plonked it into the latest generation City. Now, what do you get when you put a fuel-efficient diesel engine in India’s favorite sedan? A recipe for success.
That success did not go down to well with the folks over at Maruti. They retaliated by introducing the diesel hybrid engine in the Ciaz which claimed to give you 28 km/l. That took away some loyal Honda customers, but the Ciaz still can’t match the sales of the City.
That being said, all’s not good at the Honda India Headquarters. The official sales figures show the City enjoying a bull run, while the other models’ sales number taking a hit. The Mobilio, touted as Honda’s budget MPV, couldn’t stand the competition. Honda managed to sell only 193 units in December ’15, down from 909 units in July 2015.
The Amaze too was down to 2,933 units in December as compared to 4,589 units in July (it peaked at 6,971 units in October ’15). Honda’s budget small car, the Brio too has seen reducing sales figures (July 2015 – 1,122 units, December 2015 – 221 units).
The features and prices of rival companies might be a reason for Honda’s sales to go down.
All this being said Honda is not known to go down without a fight. They introduced the diesel engine into the City and created magic which is still working in their favour 2 years later. What it does now to revive it’s other cars is something we’ll have to sit back and watch.