Honda to Launch 5 New Cars, No Brio Diesel and New Civic: Hironori Kanayama

Team CarDekho recently visited Honda Cars India's Greater Noida Plant, where we got an opportunity to interview Mr. Hironori Kanayama, CEO, Honda Cars India. Mr. Kanayama became the CEO last year in April and in his one years regime, the company has found a new direction, whether it is improvement in sales, new car launches, or investments, Mr. Kanayama has managed all these things quite well. We asked him a few questions related to Honda's future plans, strategy and newly launched Amaze.

Q.1 First of all congratulations for the overwhelming success of the Honda Amaze. Our readers would love to know that how things happened during Amaze's development?

Honda Amaze is a very strategic model for our business because with this model we are not only entering into a new segment of compact sedans but this was our first diesel offering from Honda in the Indian market.

India has been the lead country for Amaze development and we referred to the extensive surveys and researches undertaken by Honda which not only included various customer profiles, but also competitor models available in India. Our study showed that Indian customer cares the most about the following aspects of the car

* Fuel efficiency
* Interior space
* Styling

Thus, the car has been developed on the grand concept of “Smart Micro Limousine”. Here, Smart stands for the styling with owner’s pride. Micro stands for agile driving performance with best mileage due to its compact size, while Limousine represents the spacious rear cabin and trunk.

Q.2 At the moment, Honda's production capacity is about 1.2 lakh cars per annum, because of which Honda Amaze's waiting period has been increasing with every passing day. Any strategy to keep buyers' interest in the product, as longer waiting period can divert them to alternate options?

We have received an overwhelming response from customers across India. There is definitely some waiting period, but we will put in all the efforts to ensure timely delivery of cars through our dealers.

Our dealers are in constant touch with the waiting customers and keeping them informed about the delivery schedule. This has helped us in retaining them with us.

Moreover, as you know already, we have started work on our second assembly line in Tapukara plant which will be ready next year. This will help us in expanding our production capacity to 2,40,000 units per annum.

Q.3 Honda has launched the refreshed line-up for Brio recently and bestowed the car with new features. Honda Brio is a very capable product and it is clocking decent numbers as well, but it isn't targeting masses as it is not available in diesel, why not a diesel version for the Brio?

Brio is one of our important models in the Indian market and the car added more than 32,000 happy customers last year helping us to register the annual sales growth of 35% in 2012 – 13. The recent addition of features in the Honda Brio are aimed at enhancing driving comfort and were amongst the most desirable features based on the customer’s feedback.

Honda Brio has received the highest rank in JD Power Initial Quality Study in the first year of the launch in the Indian market and has been a perfect choice for customers who seek Honda’s Durability, Quality and Reliability in their small car and are also conscious of styling and performance.

We have no plans to introduce Honda Brio in diesel version.

Q.4 Honda Civic was one of the 'Most Desired Vehicles' in India, what went wrong with the Civic? Any plans to relaunch it?

One must realize that the Civic segment has been declining for a very long time. The segment is now smaller than the number of Civics we used to sell a few years back. We are looking at newer and growing segments to increase our business. There is no plan for launch of new Civic.

Q.5 In past few years, Utility Vehicles have gained immense popularity in India. What is Honda's plans for SUV/MUV segment in India? Don't you think you are too late?

We are studying these segments quite closely in India but have not made a decision yet.

Q.6 How important is the Indian market for Honda in the global scenario?

Honda sees a huge potential across markets in India. Its importance for Honda has significantly risen in the last few years. With the introduction of our newly launched i-DTEC diesel engine in Honda Amaze and more models in next few years will help us to expand our operating universe from 10% to as much as 50%. We have started a new phase of growth in the Indian market and recently announced a new investment of 2500 crores to expand our production capacity. Although the current market situation for the industry is not good, however we are quite confident for Honda’s growth in this fiscal.

Q.7 You have just completed one year in India as Honda Cars India's CEO, what do you think is the success mantra in the market like India, and what challenges have you faced till now?

Each market has it own challenges. Although, it is very important to understand the customer needs of the market one operates in. Honda believes in putting customer at the centre while developing any new product. Our idea is to deliver models that are readily accepted by customers. We will create a suitable product wherever we sight a market.

Q.8 What is Honda's strategy to enlarge its geographical approach in India?

We have a vast distribution network of 150 dealers in 97 cities across the country. We will expand and further strengthen our dealer network which is likely to go up to 162 facilities in 102 cities by the end of 2013 – 14.

Considering the vast geographical expanse in India, our dealers conduct service camps to reach out to customers in cities where the dealer is not located.

Q.9 B segment hatches are the key to success in India, any plans for small cars?

We have no such plans.

Q.10 Honda Amaze is the first diesel car from Honda and it is getting tremendous success, what about Honda's future plans for diesel cars in India?

The i-DTEC diesel engine will help us expand our business as we will be sequentially adopting it in our new products. Starting with the Amaze, we are going to have 5 big launches over the next three years. This gives us big opportunity to expand our business.

We are very confident about the success of our diesel introduction in the markets. With addition of diesel power, the universe in which we operate will increase to around 50% of the total passenger vehicle market over the next few years.

Read More on : Honda Brio expert review