As Honda finally wakes up from its slumber, the Indian market finally gets some good news. Honda has developed a 1.5-litre diesel engine to power its current and future range of cars. This diesel engine, developed by their top engineers who previously developed Honda F1 cars, is an incarnation of the new 1.6–litre diesel engine developed for the European market. Honda claims this engine will be best in class owing to its light weight, refinement and high fuel efficiency. With this diesel engine as the basis, Honda is planning to introduce eight new cars to its line up as competition to the best selling categories presently in India.
The new 1.5-litre diesel engine will see its debut in the much talked about Honda Brio Sedan. A sub 4-metre sedan will be a direct threat to the king of the hill – Maruti Suzuki’s Swift Dzire. The Brio Sedan is expected to be launched by November end in Thailand. The diesel engine will have about 80 BHP. Next in line is the diesel Brio hatchback. This new diesel engine was tested extensively in India in the Brio hatchback itself which stirred up a lot of interest in the Indian automotive scenario. But ultimately due to cost and localization issues, launch of the Brio diesel is postponed as of now.
Honda is planning to launch an updated version of its highest selling product, the City, late 2013 or early 2014. It is expected that Honda will launch the new City with this diesel engine. The engine will be tuned to produce about 100 BHP of power. This is bad news for the competition and will definitely give them quite a few sleepless nights. Because when the City is launched with a diesel engine, it is no doubt that it will rock the Indian sales charts. Next for Honda is a similar treatment to the relatively unpopular Jazz. With a new diesel heart, this spacious and comfortable premium hatchback should start getting Honda more numbers. This is again expected in 2014.
Read The 2012 Honda CR-V Review
Along with refreshing its older products, Honda is planning to develop two new products. A Brio based MPV and a Jazz based mini-SUV. Both these newly introduced categories are selling like hot cakes and doing wonders for the competition, presently. Honda claims that they will be 7-seaters and will me more spacious and fuel efficient than the competition (namely Ertiga – MPV and the Mahindra Quanto / Renault Duster – Mini SUV). These cars too will be powered by the new 1.5–litre diesel. Both these can be expected by 2014 end or early 2015.
Expected in January 2015, is the once highest selling SUV, the new CR-V. But Honda is repeating its mistakes by not introducing this with a diesel engine. In India, this premium SUV with its petrol engine may not see many sales. Similarly, the new Accord too expected but again devoid of a diesel option. So obviously Honda at the moment is concentrating on getting maximum sales from the highest selling categories, by introducing a diesel engine and new intelligent products. In the Indian market, Honda has a reputation owing to which customers genuinely put blind faith into the Honda brand. So with this diesel engine and a well thought out pricing strategy, Honda can come out on top again.
Upcoming Honda Cars For India –
1) Brio Sedan (petrol and diesel)
2) Brio-hatchback (diesel)
3) New City (petrol and diesel)
4) New Jazz (petrol and diesel)
5) Jazz Based MPV (petrol and diesel)
6) New Mini SUV (petrol and diesel)
7) Next Generation CR-V (petrol)
8) Next Generation Accord (petrol)
Source – Autocar India