Line-up Expansion
SUVs sell. There are no two ways about it. As a manufacturer, if you don’t sell an SUV around the Rs. 10 lakh range, you are indeed missing out on a big chunk of sales. The WR-V is the best effort in making a hatchback into a crossover, but cars like the Hyundai Venue, Maruti Vitara Brezza, and Tata Nexon have taken over the WR-V. The WR-V was not actually meant to compete against these cars, but cars along the lines of i20 Active, which is a dying segment. The past 2 major launches from Honda, apart from the BS6 updates were the Amaze and the Civic. Both of these cars are sedans, and the upcoming Honda City facelift is also a sedan.
Internationally, there is no vehicle that would suit the needs of this segment. Honda sells 4 SUVs in the US. Unfortunately even the cheapest SUV, the HR-V starts at $20,080, which translates to just a shy above Rs. 15 lakhs. The company does not even have a platform, or even a concept in this segment that would show lines of a development. So, Honda will have to wait until the international model launches, and then bring it to India. So, they are finding themselves in a position, where they seem to have no choice but to wait. But in a major shift to SUVs, Honda could find themselves left behind if they don’t launch an SUV in the near future.
Until then, we would have wait and watch how the company fares in the coming future. The situation for any company looks quite grim. So, again, we will have to keep an eye on them, and what models they launch to counter the newcomers and new segments, and what strategy they employ to come to the top.
