Honda to introduce sedan variant of its successful Brio hatchback
NEW DELHI: Japanese car maker Honda
plans to notch up some fast numbers in India by introducing a sedan
variant of its successful Brio hatchback and segment it below Honda
City, its popular sedan. Honda's strategy honed in the last two years
will continue with the Brio sedan - after Jazz & Brio hatchback - is expected to hit the market in 2013.
Honda plans to target first-time new car buyers, a strategy that is
hugely successful with India with other car maker as with the new sedan
that will be priced and positioned much lower than its highest selling
City allowing options to garner a larger chunk of customers. Several
players in India have succeeded by adding a trunk to its hatchbacks.
Maruti Swift-DZire combination has been a blockbuster with both cars
becoming segment leaders while Tata Motors' Indica-Indigo duo the first
in the league has also been successful. Europe's largest car maker Volkswagen has tasted success with the Polo-Vento combine and its sister subsidiary Skoda
Auto also joined the league with the Fabia-and Rapid car offerings that
were built on the same platform. Mirroring the success of its peers, Toyota,
the Japanese car maker, has created ripples in the Indian compact car
market with its Etios sedan and Liva hatchback models helping the
company to become India's fourth largest car maker. "Honda's downsizing
strategy will continue with the Brio sedan expected to be in the market
in 2013.
Like its hatch counterpart, Brio Sedan will first be
marketed in Thailand , with India to follow by the fourth quarter just
before the start of the festival season," said Ammar Master, automotive
analyst with JD Power Asia Pacific.
The analyst added that the Brio sedan will give Honda added strength as
it complements the City in India's highly competitive sub-compact sedan
market. While an allnew mini multi passenger vehicle, also based on the
Brio platform could also to be added to India.
"Named Brio MPV
in our forecast, we expect production to begin in India by early 2015,"
the same analyst added. Honda's communication department , however, did
not confirm the development. "We do not comment on media speculations,"
the company spokesperson said. Honda, which operates as a joint venture
Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI), is facing challenges with sagging sales
in the Indian market, which has rapidly shifted in favour of diesel
cars.
This has forced the company to develop some aggressive
product plans to regain market share. Though it plans to bring a diesel
for Brio hatchback sometime later this year, some new products starting
from the Brio sedan would be added in a staggered manner to keep the
momentum going.
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