After sending ripples across the diesel automobile market with the launch of its much anticipated first ever diesel driven car ‘Amaze’, Honda has revealed it aspires to sell 50,000 units of the Amaze in the current year. The company further stated that they will also be launching five new models over the clocking span of three years. The Amaze made its debut in the surging diesel car market on 11th April in New Delhi.
Nothing was mentioned about why Honda, a super trusted brand with the Indian consumer took so long to launch its first diesel driven car in India. Amaze is being offered at a price tag between Rs.4.99 lakh – Rs.7.60 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi). The diesel version is priced at Rs. 5.99 – 7.60 lakh. Also available is the petrol version of Amaze which is priced in a bracket of Rs. 5.00 – 7.50 lakhs.
Honda believes 63 percent of the total Amaze sales will come from Tier-II, Tier-III and upcountry markets. The company expects to catch up in “heavily dieseled” states such as Kerala, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. The Japanese automaker plans to launch five models over the next 3 years, entirely new models and full model changes in the existing ones. The next generation Jazz would be launched in 2014.
Honda plans to open 12 new dealer outlets in the current fiscal, taking their number to 162 in 102 cities from 150 in 97 cities now. In recent past. Honda had made an announcement about investing Rs. 2500 crores in lieu of bifolding the current production capacity to 2.4 lakh units in India by the first half of next financial year.
Astonishingly, Honda’s sales grew more than 35% with the sale of 73,000 units of its petrol-only cars, staying almost unaffected by the recent swell in petrol prices. Honda is now planning to install diesel engines in almost all its new offering in the current year. This would bring the sales competition to loggerheads while the alarm has already been set with the launch of the Amaze.
– Shantanu Prasher