Honda Cars India CEO on Honda Amaze

Honda Amaze has been finally launched in India at a splendid price of Rs. 4.99 lakh. We attended the launch event at Le Meridian hotel, New Delhi. It was a wonderful show, and show's topper was the Honda's first diesel car, the Amaze. On the launch, we got a chance to meet Mr. Hironori Kanayama, President and CEO, Honda Cars India Limited. And we are publishing what Honda's official replied to the questions asked by CarDekho. So, here we go

Q.1 Honda Amaze has a very competitive price, just parallel to the Swift Dzire and at the same time it seems like a better package than the Dzire. So, what is your expectations from the Amaze?

Ans. Honda Amaze is our first diesel car and we are entering in a whole new segment with the Amaze. We are expecting good results from the market.

Q.2 Indian automotive market is facing a tough time, SIAM report suggests that they are expecting only 3-4% growth in the best case scenario. Don't you think you choose the wrong time to launch your most ambitious product?

Ans. No, it is right time to launch the car, how far the economy is concerned we are very optimistic about it. The US economy is getting pace and we are hoping that fiscal 2013-14 will be proven good for the Indian economy as well.

Q.3 Again Indian Govt. decontrolled diesel and the gap between diesel and petrol will be minimized in upcoming months. Don't you think, you are a bit late to launch the diesel cars in India?

Ans. No, with the diesel engine we are just expanding our reach. We also have world class petrol engines, so we are not worried about the diesel prices.

Q.4 Looking at the price and features, it seems that Honda Amaze will be a big hit. Don't you think, your manufacturing capacity of 1.20 lakh vehicles per annum will cause a demand-supply gap?

Ans. Well, we have a capacity of 10,000 cars/month at the moment, and it will be enough. We are setting up a new plant in Tapukara, Rajasthan, which will get functional by 2014, where we are going to set up our first diesel engine assembly line. So, there will be no demand supply gap once after the new plant gets functional.

Q.5 Your overall production capacity is 1.2 lakh cars/ annum, what will the maximum production for the Amaze?

Ans. It depends on the demand.

Q.6 What is your strategy about expanding your dealership and service network?

Ans. Currently we have 150 outlets and 97 cities in almost all big cities, in coming years we will expand our dealership network to all the Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. For now, we will organize service campus in the cities we don't have service center. The service campus will be organized by our dealership partners.

Q.7 Can we expect the Brio diesel by this festive season i.e Oct-Nov, 2013?

Ans. We don't have any plans to launch the Brio diesel , the next car that we will be launched is the next generation Honda Jazz.

Q.8 Any other small car for the Indian market?

Ans. We are exploring 3 segment at the moment, if we will have any plan for a small car, we will let you know.

Q.9 Is Honda planning more sedan cars in India?

Ans. With the Honda Amaze we have a full fledged sedan line-up in India, so there is no space for a new sedan in India at the moment.

Q.10 At the last, what is Honda's strategy to promote Honda Amaze?

Ans. We are going to promote Honda by all three mediums print, web and tv. This time around we have decided to promote the Amaze in the regional languages along with Hindi and English. Our new TVCs are available in Hindi and Tamil, in the Tamil version we have cast the regional artists.     

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