With a view to becoming one of the top five players in the car market, Honda on Thursday launched the first of its new diesel car line-up for India, the Brio hatch-based ?Amaze? compact sedan. An aggressive starting price of R5.99 lakh (diesel) and R4.99 lakh (petrol) for the Amaze squarely targets the market leader Maruti Dzire, which starts at R5.99 lakh (diesel) and R4.92 lakh (petrol).
Hironori Kanayama, president & CEO, Honda Cars India (HCIL), said the company will now cater to around 50% of the 2.5 million domestic passenger vehicle market, compared with only 10% previously with its range limited to petrol models. ?We have worked on aggressive localisation overcoming many challenges in terms of timelines, technology and costs. Amaze will be a game changer for us.?
Added Jnaneswar Sen, senior VP (sales and marketing) at HCIL, ?We are targeting mid-income, middle-age buyers. The Amaze offers an affordable price, comfort, performance, style and safety, while the maintenance cost will be substantially lower than competition.?
Honda?s new 1.5 litre i-DTEC diesel engine delivers 100 PS of power and 200NM of torque, while the 1.2 litre petrol i-VTEC engine is the same as the Jazz and Brio and delivers 88 PS of power.
The Amaze, which claims to be the most fuel-efficient (diesel delivers 25.8 kmpl) car in the country while also offering the highest power and space in its segment, would look to sell around 4,000-5,000 units a month, compared with around 15,000 units/month of the Dzire. This is largely because of a constraint at Honda?s Greater Noida factory which makes 10,000 cars a month across models ? a second plant at Tapukara, Rajasthan will begin early 2014.
?While Maruti?s larger sales network will help it sustain volumes to an extent, other smaller rivals like the Toyota Etios and Tata Indigo CS, who sell around 3,000-4,000 a month, are likely to find a bigger challenge given the great value Amaze offers and the Honda brand advantage,? an analyst said.